Through Handlens and Binoculars

Birding the St. Joseph River

2012-01-29T17:15:00.000-05:00

Lindsay and I joined Brian Miller and other South Bend-Elkhart Audubon Society members on a "river run" along the St. Jospeh River on Saturday, January 28, 2012. As we've heard from those who've been in our chapter for many years more than we have, this used to be a very productive field trip, with large rafts of waterfowl observed at various locations along the river. These days, unfortunately, there is little waterfowl diversity on the river, but it still makes for a fun morning (despite the biting wind).

Lindsay and other SBEAS members looking at distant Buffleheads on the St. Joseph River

The battle for most abundant species on the river in the past several years always seems to be between Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and Canada Goose (Branta canadensis). During this trip, we saw more Mallards. Because Mallards are so common, I rarely take the time to look at them in detail. If we didn't have Mallards around here and I saw one in an exotic place on a birding trip, I would probably think that the males, with their iridescent green heads, yellow beaks, and chocolate brown chests were superbly attractive birds.

Mallards (male and female)

Although Canada Geese aren't as colorful, there is still good reason to search through gaggles of geese, as there are some more uncommon species that can sometimes be found amongst them. Although we didn't see any similar species on Saturday, I was watching for Cackling Geese (the smaller version of the Canada Goose), Greater White-fronted Geese, and even for Brants.

Canada Geese

Along the river at Eberhart Golf Course we saw the highlight of the morning. Lindsay and I were in the last car in a line of members entering the property. We were following the group and watching the river when a duck that was clearly not a Mallard flew in front of us. Lindsay quickly identified the bird in flight as a Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula). I hit the brakes and fumbled for the camera; meanwhile, the bird landed and swam farther and farther away from us. By the time I was able to get photos, he was contently as far away from us as possible on the opposite bank of the river. Common Goldeneye is one of the duck species that used to be much more common on the St. Joseph River in winter. They are said to spend winters as far north as possible, so long as there is open water. I wonder if the large rafts that we once had here now winter further north as a result of a warming climate.

A distant Common Goldeneye (male)

Another surprise of our outing was seeing several Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus) in a wet spot along the road at the Mishawaka Riverwalk. The two common inland gulls around here are Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) and Herring Gull, with the former being much more common than the latter. The typical parking lot gull is the Ring-billed Gull, and that's what I expected to see as we got closer and saw a flock of gulls along the road, but a good proportion of the gulls we saw at this location were Herring Gulls.

Herring Gull

For comparison, below is a shot of Ring-billed Gulls from the same location. Herring Gulls are larger and have thicker bills. They also have pink legs (as compared to the yellow-green legs of Ring-billed Gulls).

Ring-billed Gulls

Thanks to Brian Miller for leading another successful field trip.

Looking Back...

2012-01-21T19:00:00.000-05:00

Since I never posted on this blog about my spring botanical trip with Justin Thomas to South Carolina in May 2011, I figured that now would be as good of a time as any to start catching up. I did post about our trip on Get Your Botany On! here, here, and here, so be sure to check out those posts as well.

In addition to the rare and wacky, and even on occasion the very showy, one of the things I enjoy most about botanical excursions around the country is seeing species that I'd previously never heard of in genera with which I am familiar. The plant that is the topic of this post fits that description. This is Houstonia serpyllifolia (aka Hedyotis michauxii), Thymeleaf Bluet. At a quick glance, this species (particularly the 4-merous powder-blue flowers with yellow corolla throats) looks like the Quaker Ladies (Houstonia caerulea) that is widespread throughout the eastern United States. Don't be fooled, though... one must take a closer look, especially at the distribution of leaves on the plant, to know that this is a species with a much more restricted geographical range and habitat requirement than that of Quaker Ladies. On Thymeleaf Bluet, or Mountain Bluet as it is also known, the leaves are tiny and nearly round, and they are distributed primarily on creeping stems from the base of the plant (leading to yet another common name, Creeping Bluet). Quaker Ladies has leaves that are more spoon shaped in a basal rosette and sparsely distributed in an opposite fashion up the stems.

As mentioned above, Thymeleaf Bluet isn't as common overall as Quaker Ladies. In fact, the former is only known from a narrow band along approximately 500 miles of the Appalachian Mountains in nine states; in two of those states on the fringes of its range (Kentucky and Pennsylvania) this member of the Madder Family (Rubiaceae) is a species of conservation concern.

In addition to the foliage differences between Thymeleaf Bluet and Quaker Ladies, you would likely know you weren't looking at Quaker Ladies if you saw this plant simply by observing the habitat in which you were located. Whereas Quaker Ladies grows in open woods, meadows, and grassy areas, Thymeleaf Bluet is found along streambanks and on rocks in streams, in rich woods, on damp slopes, and on spray cliffs in seepage areas.

In future posts this winter, I hope to highlight other plants from our spring foray that I didn't discuss on Get Your Botany On!. Stay tuned!

Some Common Winter Feeder Birds

2012-01-15T13:26:00.001-05:00

On Saturday morning, Lindsay and I joined Brian Miller, Vic Riemenschneider, and Sam and Abby Lima at the South Bend-Elkhart Audubon Society wildlife sanctuary for a feeder watch. Even though the birds we saw are common winter feeder birds, it was enjoyable to spend time watching bird behavior in more detail than I normally do. We tallied 18 species, including Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Carolina Wren, American Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, House Finch, American Goldfinch, and House Sparrow.

Female Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus) are found throughout the eastern half of the United States. It is always fun to watch this species at feeders because as they approach, they remind me of a big, goofy chocolate lab running up to a kid for a treat... they seem somewhat uncoordinated, fearless, and unaware of any surroundings as they plop down on the feeder; smaller birds tend to disperse when Red-bellied Woodpeckers land on feeders. The bird in the photograph above is a female, whereas that in the photograph below is a male. The easiest way to tell them appart is to look at the red on the head. On the female, the red color is only on the nape (with gray or off-white on the forehead), whereas the male has the red coloration nearly all the way to the beak.

Male Red-bellied Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpeckers (Picoides villosus) and Downy Woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens) are often confused with one another. In both species, the males have a red patch on the back of the head; females lack this red patch.

Male Hairy Woodpecker

The best field identification characteristic to tell the difference between these two species is not exactly evident in the photographs above and below. Hairy Woodpeckers have a beak that is as long as the profile of the head, whereas the beak of the Downy Woodpecker is shorter than the profile of the head. At the base of the beak, Downy Woodpeckers have a "conspicuous" tuft of feathers, whereas this tuft is inconpicuous on the Hairy Woodpecker (this characteristic can be difficult to see). The Hairy Woodpecker has a larger black shoulder mark than does the Downy Woodpecker, and the outer tail feathers are completely white on the Hairy Woodpecker (Downy Woodpeckers have dark bars on the outer tail feathers). Hairy Woodpeckers are also larger overall (about the same size as a Red-bellied Woodpecker) than Downy Woodpeckers (about the size of an Eastern Bluebird). The calls of the two species, while similar, can be used to distinguish the species. The Hairy Woodpecker call is sharper and a bit higher pitched, and is described as peek. The Downy Woodpecker call is more gentle and a bit lower pitched, and is described as pik. Listening to the calls will probably allow you to tell the difference more easily. Both species are found throughout most of North America.

Male Downy Woodpecker

The American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea) is truly one of our winter birds. This species breeds on the tundra of northern Canada and Alaska but spends its winters throughout much of the continental United States. One of the best places to find American Tree Sparrows in winter is in fields with an abundance of goldenrod (Solidago spp.). You would think that a bird with "tree" in the common and latin name (arborea means "tree-like") would spend its time in trees, but this is not the case here. Although sometimes found in shrubby areas, American Tree Sparrows spend much of their time on the ground. The species was confusingly given the moniker American Tree Sparrow by the European settlers because they were reminiscent of the European Tree Sparrows from back home. In addition to the rusty cap and eyeline, the strong white wingbars, and the bicolored bill, the other strong identifying characteristic of this species is the dark spot on the chest.

American Tree Sparrow

The next two species can be fun to watch because they characteristically spend very little time at the feeder and more time caching food to eat later. These species also often are in small flocks together with Black-capped Chickadees.

Tufted Titmouse

The Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) is a small year-round resident of forests of eastern North America and northeastern Mexico. The gray back, orange flanks, light belly, and black forehead on a bird with a small crest allow for an easy identification of this species. The song of the Tufted Titmouse is a whistled peter-peter-peter, but this species produces lots of other sounds that can sometimes sound a bit like Black-capped Chickadee or Golden-crowned Kinglet.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Another fun bird to watch is the White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis), a species of open woods throughout the continental United States and ranging north into Canada and south into Mexico. White-breasted Nuthatches spend much of their time upsided-down clinging to trees or feeders. The nasal, party-horn-like call of this species allows identification without ever seeing the bird, though its call can sound a bit similar to that of the Red-breasted Nuthatch. The gray back, black cap, white underside, and long thin bill all point towards identification as a White-breasted Nuthatch. This species lacks the black eyeline of the Red-breasted Nuthatch and the black throat of the Black-capped Chickadee.

Steely stare from a White-breasted Nuthatch

Special thanks to Brian for setting up this outing, and to Vic for opening up the sanctuary for us.

2011 Comes To A Close

2012-01-01T12:03:00.001-05:00

On the final day of 2011, I participated in the Elkhart Christmas Bird Count, birding with several others at Oxbow County Park. Our group had to leave by noon, but we tallied 24 species during our hike. When we were in a wet wooded area with lots of downed logs, I thought we had a good chance of finding a Winter Wren, so I played the Winter Wren song on our iPod. Shortly after the song began, we heard the clear, ringing "teakettle-teakettle-teakettle" of a Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus). A few seconds later, we were looking at a pair of Carolina Wrens, interested to see what all the Winter Wren commotion was about.

Carolina Wren

Later on our hike, we did see a Winter Wren as well; our other highlight was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker... a nice end to the year.

Happy 2012!

Christmas Bird Counts

2011-12-24T12:47:00.001-05:00

Going into this year's Christmas Bird Count season, I had said that with the irruption of Snowy Owls happening this year, it would be a failure if we couldn't find a Snowy Owl on one of our counts. Luckily, Lindsay salvaged count season by finding the owl in the photo below.

No, it's not a Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) in the sense of the large, white, circumpolar owl species that's been observed at various locations throughout the Midwest this fall/winter. It is, however, an Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio) that must have had its head sticking out of that Wood Duck box for quite some time to accumulate a layer of snow on its head... hence, a snowy owl! I'll take it. Lindsay found this bird while we were driving past a wetland in South Bend during the South Bend Christmas Bird Count on 17 December. During our count, Lindsay and I tallied 34 species in our portion of the southwest sector, and 57 species were tallied in the South Bend circle overall (both tallies were right on the mean for this count).

The next morning (18 December), I was at it again, joining Kip Miller, Gabriella Meredith, and Sherry Manison for the Berrien Springs Christmas Bird Count in Berrien County, Michigan. On that count, our foursome tallied 42 species; I haven't yet heard the total for the count circle, but Kip mentioned that due to the range of habitats it is typically one of the top five or so counts in Michigan. Some of our highlights were Common Merganser, Red-shouldered Hawk, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (2), Winter Wren, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Swamp Sparrow. Although not rare birds, we enjoyed nice looks at the Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) and the Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) shown above and below, respectively.

I have one more count to do this year, on 31 December in Elkhart, Indiana. Christmas Bird Count season runs through 5 January 2012, so there is still time to join a count in your area. If you've never done the Christmas Bird Count, I recommend it to beginners as well as experts. The first count that Lindsay and I ever did was a Christmas Bird Count, and from that count we learned a lot about both birds and birding.

A Siskin Surprise

2011-12-11T22:39:00.001-05:00

This morning, I was looking out the window at our feeders and was pleasantly surprised to see a Pine Siskin (Carduelis pinus), the first individual of this species that I've seen at our feeders this fall/winter. I later found a second individual as well.

Pine Siskin (above) and American Goldfinch (below)

Note the differences in the photos above and below between the Pine Siskin and the American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis). The other species with which a Pine Siskin could potentially be confused is a female House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus), but the beak of the Pine Siskin is more sharply pointed, Pine Siskins are smaller than House Finches, and Pine Siskins usually have some yellow pigment in some of their feathers, most often on and/or behind the wing bar.

Pine Siskin (above) and American Goldfinch (below)

Like many other finch species that breed in Canada and only visit the continental United States in winter, Pine Siskins are considered an "irruptive" species. This means that in some years, environmental conditions lead to large numbers of individuals of these species in areas further south of their normal range. The Pine Siskin is the most common of these irruptive species, with a winter range extending in some years south into Central America.

Pine Siskin

We've had Pine Siskins at our feeders the past several years, with more in some years than in others, and with birds present for a longer period of time in some years. I enjoy their presence, even though they can eat a tremendous amount of black-oil sunflower and thistle seed. Hopefully they stick around all winter, and hopefully some of their irruptive relatives show up this year as well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T11:10:00.001-05:00

Wherever you may be this holiday weekend, we hope that you and your family enjoy your Thanksgiving feast.

American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) Thanksgiving dinner at the Namestniks'

Happy Thanksgiving!

-Lindsay, Scott, and Bootypants

Chouette!

2011-11-18T23:10:00.001-05:00

You're probably going to have to think back to high school or college French class for this one... what the heck is a chouette? Translated from French to English, a chouette is a small owl. As you will see shortly, it is somewhat easy to understand why the French Canadians, upon first seeing the bird in the photographs below, would have called it a chouette. As time passed and the colloquial name chouette was used by more and more English speakng people, the name eventually became slurred and changed into saw-whet, and later this species was named the Northern Saw-whet Owl.

Face-to-face with a Northern Saw-whet Owl

On 5 November, members of South Bend-Elkhart Audubon Society were afforded a unique opportunity to see Indiana's smallest owl, the Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus), at Indiana Dunes State Park. Brad Bumgardner, resident naturalist at Indiana Dunes State Park, has been banding and collecting data on this species for several years, and because of a recent donation from South Bend-Elkhart Audubon Society to help fund equipment necessary for banding, Brad invited our group for a private presentation on Northern Saw-whet Owls during the peak of their migration through the area.

Members of South Bend-Elkhart Audubon Society watch intently as naturalist Brad Bumgardner collects data on a Northern Saw-whet Owl

We had a packed house for the event, and we were not to be disappointed. The initial mist net check yielded no owls. For the second net check, Dawn and Eric Scarborough and Lindsay and I went with the volunteers and were lucky enough to find that a Northern Saw-whet Owl had flown into the mist net in response to the speakers blaring out the calls produced by this species. The volunteers bagged the owl and brought it back to Brad, and in front of the group he collected data and put an identifying band on its leg.

On the big screen, Brad collects data on the beak length of the Northern Saw-whet Owl

To allow more people to see what was going on, Brad worked beneath a camera and projected what he was doing onto a big screen. With the data that were collected, Brad was able to determine that the bird we captured was a hatch-year female.

Reluctantly, the Northern Saw-whet Owl allowed Brad to place a band on her leg

Banding the owl allows it to be tracked as it is captured at other locations along its migratory route. Later that evening, the volunteers found two more owls in the mist net. One was believed to have been banded at Whitefish Point; the other happened to be the same hatch-year female that we had captured earlier in the night!

After data collection and banding, Brad took the Northern Saw-whet Owl on a tour around the room

Northern Saw-whet Owls aren't much larger than a can of pop, at 6.7-8.6 inches tall. Their wingspan, however, reaches up to nearly two feet. The weight of this nocturnal species ranges from 1.9-5.3 ounces. Females are a bit larger than males. Hunting takes place primarily at dusk and dawn, with small mammals (and particularly deer mice) being the prey of choice. Northern Saw-whet Owls inhabit deciduous and coniferous forests with dense, shrubby understories. They are found from southern Alaska to as far south as Mexico, and from coast to coast in the continental United States. The year-round and breeding range is generally further north within this overall range, and they generally spend winters in the southern portion of this range; however, breeding occurs along the west coast as well as south through the Rocky Mountains into Mexico. In Indiana, this species is primarily here during migration.

Not many people have the opportunity to pet an owl!

Thanks to Brad Bumgardner for an interesting evening and the chance to see this tiny but fierce predator!

Safe Travels

2011-11-05T00:13:00.002-04:00

In the last month, the shallow well that had provided Lindsay, Bootypants, and me with water at our home since we moved here in 2007 began to go dry. This week, we had a new well drilled that should provide us with water for a long, long time. What does this topic have to do with this blog, you ask?

Our old well pit

Our old well was located in a pit behind our house, covered by a wooden board. When we first moved into our house, we looked in our well pit and were excited to find five Eastern Tiger Salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum). Thinking I was helping them, I moved three to our pond. I then read somewhere that this species can thrive in well pits, so I left two of them in the pit. They must have eaten well for the last four years, because when I removed the board from the pit this week the two salamanders still looked quite healthy. Looking back at some notes I had taken on these salamanders a few years ago, I was reminded that I once saw one take a Common Pill Bug (Armadillidium vulgare). In addition to insects, they also commonly eat worms, and large adults have been known to eat small frogs and even baby mice.

Eastern Tiger Salamanders in the well pit (one is beneath the PVC; the other is on the ground in the upper right of the pit (click on photo to enlarge)

Knowing that our well pit would be abandoned and that the drilling company would need to be in the pit to cap the old well, I decided that it was time to move the last two salamanders out of the pit this week.

Eastern Tiger Salamander in well pit

I climbed down into the pit and removed the salamanders from what possibly was the only home they had ever known. Eastern Tiger Salamanders are known to occur throughout Indiana. There are several subspecies known from North America; as a species, Tiger Salamanders are known from most of the United States, with the exception of the Appalachians and the lower Mississippi valley. The subspecies that we have in Indiana (subsp. tigrinum) is known from New York to Florida and west to Texas.

The last two Eastern Tiger Salamanders have been removed from the well pit

Eastern Tiger Salamanders are found in forests and prairies, usually near wetlands or ponds. Although they require ponds for breeding, this species spends much of its life, especially as an adult, in uplands. It seems to require loose soils, as its habits are to burrow into the ground or to use the burrow of another small animal. Unlike many other salamander species, the Eastern Tiger Salamander can persist in areas with heavy anthropogenic influences, such as in cities and in farmland, so long as they have adequate breeding habitat.

One of the salamanders had a more marbled appearance

The two Eastern Tiger Salamander individuals looked quite a bit different, as seen above and below. One was much more marbled, whereas the other was somewhat spotted.

The other salamander had a more spotted appearance

So, I took the two salamanders to an area on our property near our pond. We don't really have loose soil, so I put them near some downed wood so that they would at least have cover. When I temporarily put them in the lawn for photos, they quickly began to burrow in, and were difficult to get out. I'm hoping that they quickly burrowed in where I released them as well. As soon as I walked away, I thought to myself, "that might have been a bad idea... that sure looked like a good spot for garter snakes."

A final look

Now, I can only hope for the best for them. Good luck, salamanders.

It Ain't Over Quite Yet

2011-10-29T22:45:00.000-04:00

In keeping with tradition, below are photos of Greater Fringed Gentian (Gentianopsis crinita) from a wet sand prairie in Griffith, Indiana. It seems that each of the last three years, I've posted photos of this species from different sites and different habitats.

It is difficult not to love the fringed, blue blooms of Greater Fringed Gentian.

I saw these plants flowering earlier this week. Although fall has nearly seized the last of summer's blossoms, a few of the hardiest plants are putting forth a final effort before frost drapes us with dormancy.

The Field Botanist

2011-10-29T21:41:00.001-04:00

My coworker Abby recently sent me the quote and picture of an engraving below, which reminded her of her first summer of monitoring with Tony and me. I liked them so much that I created a poster out of them...

#9

2011-10-29T18:54:00.001-04:00

A happy 9th anniversary!

The Forsaken Flora

2011-10-23T16:19:00.002-04:00

Ever wonder, as you're cruising along the interstate at 70+ mph, what plants are growing in the harsh environment created by asphalt-induced higher temperatures, vehicle-created winds, and runoff including road maintenance chemicals? If you're like most people, probably not... there are plenty of other things to think about, like talking on cell phones, eating, and putting on make-up. But if you're like me, observing the highway flora is a top priority.

Fetid Marigold thrives in a narrow band along the highway shoulder

Here in the Great Lakes region, our highway flora consists of an interesting assemblage of plants native to the Atlantic coast, plants native further west and south of here, opportunistic Midwestern natives, and your typical Old World weeds. One of the most conspicuous is the low-growing, malodorous composite that forms a yellowish- to reddish-colored band immediately adjacent to the highway shoulder. This is Fetid Marigold (Dyssodia papposa), a plant native through the Great Plains south to Texas, but introduced in the eastern and western thirds of the country.

Not much else grows in the zone with Fetid Marigold

Fetid marigold is so named because of the characteristic strong, unpleasant odor that is emitted from the glands on the phyllaries (you can see these glands in the photograph below). The Latin name for the genus (Dyssodia) is Greek for "disagreeable odor." In fact, in the 1800s, C.W. Short included on the herbarium specimen label of one of his collections of this species that "This plant is so abundant, and exhales an odor so unpleasant as to sicken the traveler over the western prairies of Illinois, in autumn."

The orange-colored glands on the phyllaries contain a watery liquid with the characteristic odor of Fetid Marigold

Fetid Marigold has an interesting history in the Chicago Region. After being introduced to the area in the 1800s, it spread to nearly every road and trail throughout the region. Between approximately 1930 and 1970, Fetid Marigold nearly disappeared from this area, but beginning in the 1970s, it again began to spread. Now it can be found along most of our highways.

The habitat in which Fetid Marigold grows is not conducive to the growth of many other species

Another conspicuous composite found along our roadsides is Seaside Goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens). Unlike the previous species, however, Seaside Goldenrod has been introduced around the Great Lakes region from the Atlantic and Gulf Coast states, where it grows in sandy soils and on the edges of salt marshes near the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. I have seen this goldenrod thriving in tiny cracks in concrete along Lake Michigan in Chicago, where no other plant dares to grow.

Seaside Goldenrod is tall and showy with fleshy, leathery foliage

Of the goldenrods found in the Chicago region, Seaside Goldenrod is one of the most attractive, as its individual flowers are quite large for a Solidago. Seaside Goldenrod has leathery, waxy leaves characteristic of many plants that grow in the harsh conditions adjacent to the ocean, making it well suited for the similarly windy and salty conditions that exist along our highways.

Notice the large flowers of Seaside Goldenrod

Saltmarsh Aster (Aster subulatus, or Symphyotrichum subulatum) has similar native and introduced ranges in the United States to those of Seaside Goldenrod, and the two are often found growing together. Known locally in the Chicago region as Expressway Aster (for obvious reasons), this aster is somewhat inconspicuous, as it has very short light lavender ray flowers that are not much longer than the phyllaries. It is an annual aster with smooth and somewhat succulent stems and leaves.

Saltmarsh Aster has short (but obvious) ray flowers

Saltmarsh Aster appears late in the season but can form near monocultures in places of high salinity. At a location I visited for work twice in 2011, it was undetectable during my June visit, but abundant when I was back at the site in September.

Near monocultures of Saltmarsh Aster can be formed in moist to wet areas with high salinity

Another annual aster that grows in the salty zone along our highways in the Great Lakes region is Rayless Aster (Aster brachyactis, Brachyactis ciliata, or Symphyotrichum ciliatum). Unlike the previous two species, Rayless Aster is native in the western United States and Canada, as well as in Eurasia.

Rayless Aster can be somewhat inconspicuous

Rayless Aster is probably the most inconspicuous of the species in this post, especially because its ray flowers, as the common name implies, are absent or undeveloped. However, when in fruit, the fluffy pappus is quite noticable.

Although the ray flowers are lacking, the spreading involucral bracts are helpful in the identification of Rayless Aster

This just scratches the surface regarding some of the plants that make their home in one of our harshest environments. Although all of these plants are non-native around the Great Lakes, they perform the difficult task of growing in an area that is too salty, windy, and sediment-covered for most of the other plants in our flora to survive, while at the same time going almost completely unnoticed even though they are probably amongst our most frequently seen plants. Some of the other plants that frequently are found with these four composites in this unique habitat include Quack Grass (Agropyron repens), Common Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), Hairy Aster (Aster pilosus), Triangular-leaved Orach (Atriplex prostrata), Expressway Sedge (Carex praegracilis), Oak-leaved Goosefoot (Chenopodium glaucum), Chicory (Cichorium intybus), Horseweed (Conyza canadensis), Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota), Barnyard Grass (Echinochloa crusgalli), Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea), Squirrel-tail Grass (Hordeum jubatum), Burning Bush (Kochia scoparia), Willow Lettuce (Lactuca saligna), Salt-meadow Grass (Leptochloa fusca var. fascicularis), Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), Knee Grass (Panicum dichotomiflorum), Common Reed (Phragmites australis), Sidewalk Knotweed (Polygonum arenastrum), Alkali Grass (Puccinellia distans), Alkali Bulrush (Scirpus maritimus var. paludosus), Green Foxtail (Setaria viridis), Lesser Salt Spurrey (Spergularia marina), Sheathed Rush Grass (Sporobolus vaginiflorus), Sea Blite (Suaeda calceoliformis), Narrow-leaved Cattail (Typha angustifolia), and Hybrid Cattail (Typha x glauca).

If you're ever in search of a new county or state record, I recommend looking for these rapidly spreading highway plants. Three of the species above were new county records where I found them in Dane County, Wisconsin a few weeks ago.

Still Time To See Sallies

2011-10-17T23:39:00.001-04:00

When I received my most recent volume of Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, I found myself looking at a Four-toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum) on the front cover, and immediately thought of my searches for this species earlier this year (click here and here) with Lee Casebere, Scott Holaday, and Bill Ringer. Upon looking at the first article, I was excited to read about the surveys for Four-toed Salamanders that Lee had done with Michael Lodato in Indiana during the past several years [Casebere, L.A. and M. Lodato. 2010. The Four-Toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum) in Indiana: Past and Present. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science. Vol. 119 (2)]. After reading the article, I emailed Lee to let him know how much I enjoyed the article and that I hoped we could look for Four-toed Salamanders again soon because I needed to get some new photos of them (since the only time I'd ever seen one previously was several years ago in Michigan). It didn't take long for Lee to write back and thank me for my compliment, and soon enough we had plans to go look for salamanders at Koontz Lake Nature Preserve on 15 October.

Our target, a Four-toed Salamander

It didn't take long to find our first Four-toed Salamander. Although this species was listed as endangered in Indiana until very recently, it was still a treat to find several of them on this blustery autumn day.

A white belly with dark spots gives away the identity of a Four-toed Salamander

The telltale identification feature of Indiana's smallest salamander is the polka-dotted ventral side, with dark spots on a white belly. Other good identification features are the scaly back (this species was once known as the Scaly Salamander), the dryer texture, and the constriction at the base of the tail (where the body and tail meet). Oh yeah, and they have four toes on their hind feet. Males and females look similar, but the males have blunt snouts, whereas those of the females are rounded.

At up to 3 inches long at the most, Four-toed Salamanders are Indiana's smallest salamander species

The geographical range of the Four-toed Salamander includes much of the eastern half of the United States and into Canada to Nova Scotia, with a more concentrated distribution in the northeastern U.S., along the coastal plain, and around the Great Lakes. Disjunct populations occur in the Ozarks, in the Florida panhandle, and in eastern Louisiana. In Indiana, Four-toeds are found in sphagnum and tamarack bogs, near woodland springs, in swamps, and in forests with vernal pools. Sedge clumps or mosses seem to be essential, as the species uses these microhabitat features for nesting sites.

Note the scaly skin and the constriction at the base of the tale in the Four-toed Salamander

Although Four-toed Salamanders were our target for the day, we had good luck with other species as well. Blue-spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma laterale) were abundant. Although they can be impossible to distinguish from triploids and hybrids of the Ambysoma jeffersonianum complex without genetic analysis, Lee felt pretty confident that the individuals we were seeing were most likely true Blue-spotted Salamanders, which seem to be confined in Indiana to the northern quarter of the state.

The coloration of this handsome Blue-spotted Salamander reminds me of one of the poison dart frogs in the rainforest

Slightly larger and definitely stockier than the Four-toed Salamander, Blue-spotted Salamanders rarely exceed five inches in length. The species is known from the eastern provinces of Canada, from the New England states, and from around the Great Lakes. In Indiana, they are often found in moist, sandy woods.

The third species that we saw was the one that we most expected to see, Redback Salamander (Plethodon cinereus). There are two common color morphs of this species: one with dark sides and a wide red to orange midline stripe (the striped morph), and one uniformly dark above (the unstriped morph). A third color morph (the red morph) is uncommon in Indiana and only found in southeastern Indiana; it is uniformly red to orange above.

Probably the brightest and largest Redback Salamander (striped morph) that I've ever seen

For more information on the habits, habitat, and range of the Redback Salamander, see my earlier post that includes information on this species.

The unstriped morph (leadback) Redback Salamander (above) can be confused with the Ravine Salamander (Plethodon richmondi), which is restricted in Indiana to the southeastern part of the state

Lee told me that this was one of the best days he has ever had in terms of number of salamander individuals observed; it was certainly my best ever salamander day as well. In our three-and-a-half hours together in the field, we tallied 7 Four-toed Salamanders, 20 Blue-spotted Salamanders, and 31 Redback Salamanders (16 striped morph and 15 unstriped morph). After Lee left, I spent another half hour and found an additional 4 Blue-spotted Salamanders and 1 unstriped morph Redback Salamander. There probably aren't many days left this year when the sallies will be active, so get out there soon if you plan to find them before the snow falls!

Wisconsin Point In August

2011-10-09T22:01:00.003-04:00

When I was in Superior, Wisconsin this August for work, a few of us took some time on our day off to visit Wisconsin Point, part of the largest freshwater sandbar in the world. Although many people visit Wisconsin Point to see the historic lighthouse, we were there to see interesting plants. Below are some of the highlights.

Beach Pea (Lathyrus japonicus) is an attractive legume of sandy beaches and gravelly shores that has a broad geographical range, known from four continents (North America, South America, Asia, and Europe). The hard coat and high buoyancy of its seeds allow them to remain viable for many years as they float to far reaching parts of the world. Although its populations are stable on the shores of Lake Superior and Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, Beach Pea is listed as endangered in Indiana and Illinois and threatened in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.

Within North America, Beach Pea is known primarily from the Pacific Coast in the northwestern United States and north into Canada and Alaska, from the Great Lakes coastal beaches, and from the Atlantic Coast in the northeastern United States north into Canada. There are also a few records from shores of inland lakes. Several varieties of this species have been described.

The grapeferns that I see most frequently in northern Indiana are Rattlesnake Fern (Botrychium virginianum) and Cutleaf Grapefern (Botrychium dissectum), so it was nice to see another species for a change. The plant in the photograph above is Leathery Grapefern (Botrychium multifidum). All of the plants in the population had very short fronds, barely 7 cm long to a bit longer than 7 cm. This fern is primarily known from much of the northern half of North America, but it is listed as endangered or threatened in several states. It is most often found in fields, but is also found in forest openings.

We were lucky to see the orchid shown above and below, as it nearly blended in with its surroundings. This is Checkered Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera tesselata), a plant primarily of the Upper Great Lakes and New England states, as well as the adjacent provinces in Canada.

Endangered or threatened in several states, Checkered Rattlesnake Plantain grows in forests ranging usually from dry to moist, but often with rich soils. It is sometimes found in white cedar swamps and on margins of tamarack-spruce bogs.

Like other members of the genus Goodyera, Checkered Rattlesnake Plantain persists as an underground plant for many years before sprouting a basal rosette (shown above). The basal rosette then persists for several years before the plant produces a flowering stalk. After flowering, the visible part of the plant that flowered dies, and a new basal rosette is produced.

Although a common element of the boreal forest, I was very excited to see so much Narrowleaf Cowwheat (Melampyrum lineare), as this species is listed as rare in Indiana; it is also considered threatened and endangered in other states within its range. Narrowleaf Cowwheat is a species with an affinity for boreal regions, but it is also found in several states throughout the Appalachian Mountains.

Narrowleaf Cowwheat is sometimes parasitic on the roots of other plants. It grows in moist to dry forests (often in pine woods and boreal forests) and in bogs.

I always enjoy getting out to see some of the natural areas when we are working in the northwoods. Many of the plants that are somewhat common there are uncommon or nonexistant in northern Indiana, so a trip into the field makes being away from home for a week or more a bit more tolerable.

Highlights From A Trip To The Kankakee Sands Region

2011-10-02T21:41:00.000-04:00

It is hard to believe that October is already upon us. After one of the busiest summers I've ever experienced, I began to look back through some of my 2011 photographs and noticed that I had not posted about a fantastic Sunday botanizing outing in the Kankakee Sands region of Indiana and Illinois in late July. Stephanie Frischie of The Nature Conservancy of Indiana (Kankakee Sands Project) was my guide as we visited several preserves in the Hoosier and Prairie states.

Pembroke Savanna

We spent our time primarily in two plant communities, sand savanna and wet sand prairie, with a bit of time spent in sand flatwoods. I was very impressed by the open aspect of Pembroke Savanna Nature Preserve on the Illinois side of the state line. Many of the "savannas" in northwest Indiana would be more acurately categoriezed as woodlands, as there is less of a prairie and grass component with more forbs and shade tolerant species present, and as there are more trees per acre than in a classic savanna. However, the plant community at Pembroke Savanna, as seen above, was quite open and fit my concept of a true savanna.

Platanthera ciliaris inflorescence

Many rare plants can be found in these sandy, acidic communities. One of our targets for the day was Yellow Fringed Orchid (Platanthera ciliaris), a species known from many states and provinces in the eastern half of North America, but listed as endangered or threatened in 10 of them, including Indiana and Illinois. It is much more common southeast of here, in the moist pine savannas of the coastal plain. We saw a large population of this species in a moist to wet sand prairie/savanna in an Illinois preserve.

Platanthera ciliaris flower

As you can see, the flowers of this orchid are a striking yellow to orange color that is unmatched in the plant world. Yellow Fringed Orchid grows in bogs, meadows, seepage areas, and moist to wet sand. Although it seems to prefer open areas in nearly full sun, it can survive in small amounts of shade, and I have seen one location where one plant survived and flowered under dense shade of an oak woodland that was historically more open. Without some form of disturbance (fire, seasonal water fluctations, selective clearing of woody vegetation, etc.), extant populations of Yellow Fringed Orchid will cease to exist.

Polygala cruciata var. aquilonia

The flora of the moist to wet sand flats in the Kankakee Sands region is similar in many respects to the flora of the Atlantic coastal plain, and another of the species with coastal plain affinities that we were searching for and found was Drumheads (Polygala cruciata var. aquilonia). In the broad sense, Cross Milkwort (as it is also konwn for its leaves that are generally in whorls of four) has a very similar geographical range to that of Yellow Fringed Orchid. The plants that we see in northern Indiana and Illinois, as well as in the northern half of the species' range, are var. aquilonia; var. cruciata is found throughout the southern half of the species' range.

Polygala cruciata var. aquilonia inflorescence

Drumheads is a species of conservation concern in nine states. It can be found in moist to wet soils, often in sand but sometimes in peat. It seems to do will with some form of disturbance, such as scraping the soil. We found this species in sand flatwoods at Willow Slough Fish and Wildlife Area in Indiana.

Polygonum careyi

Yet another species more at home on the coastal plain that we saw in openings within sand flatwoods at Willow Slough Fish and Wildlife Area was Carey's Smartweed (Polygonum careyi). This species is most common in the New England states along the Atlantic Coast, but is also found in disjunct populations throughout the Great Lakes states and at a few locations in the Appalachians; it is also known from one county in Florida. Carey's Smartweed is listed as endangered, threatened, or extirpated in six states, including Indiana and Illinois. I have only seen this rare smartweed at one other site in Indiana. Like the previous species, it needs some form of disturbance for its populations to be maintained, and it responds well to fire.

Polygonum careyi inflorescence

Carey's Smartweed could potentially be confused with the much more common Pinkweed (Polygonum pensylvanicum), as both have stalked glands on the stem below the inflorescence. However, Carey's Smartweed has distinctly fringed ocrea, whereas Pinkweed has unfringed ocrea. Carey's Smartweed grows in swamps, bogs, clearings, and on shorelines.

Aureolaria pedicularia var. ambigens

Although not as rare, I was excited to see Fernleaf Yellow False Foxglove (Aureolaria pedicularia var. ambigens) growing in dry sand in a scrubby oak flatwoods at Carl Becker Nature Preserve in Illinois. In the broad sense, this species (including all of its varieties) is known from much of the eastern United States. Three varieties (var. ambigens, var. intercedens, and var. pedicularia) are known from Indiana; a fourth variety (var. austromontana) grows in the southeastern United States. The plant in the photograph above fits var. ambigens because of the densely glandular-pubescent upper stems and branches. Aureolaria pedicularia is a species of conservation concern in five states. This oak parasite grows in dry sandy soils in savannas, forests, and thickets, as well as on stabilized dunes.

Rhexia virginica

We ended our outing with a quick stop at Hopkins Park Cemetery to see, among other things, the strongly contrasting yellow stamens and pink petals of Handsome Harry (Rhexia virginica). Listed as threatened in two states,Virginia Meadow Beauty, as it is also known, is documented from most of eastern North America where it grows in wet sandy soils in swamps, thickets, prairies, seeps, swales, marshes, and in sandstone depressions in upland forests. Within the Chicago Region, there is nothing that can be confused with this species, even vegetatively, as it has a sharply quadrangular (to somewhat winged) stem and opposite, ovate, toothed leaves with three distinct impressed veins and stiff hairs that stand perpendicular to the leaf blades.

Thanks to Stephanie for showing me around this very botanically interesting region of the country.

Argiope Spiders

2011-09-25T22:36:00.000-04:00

Late summer/early fall seems to be the season of spiders. This time of year, it is difficult to walk through the woods, fields, or wetlands without wearing webs on your face and pants. Some of the most common and conspicuous spiders that I notice this time of year are those in the genus Argiope. Often called "garden spiders," these ~2" long (the bodies of the males are much smaller) yellow, black, and silvery white orb-weavers can be quite intimidating for those with even the slightest bit of arachnophobia, but unless you have six legs and a pair of antennae, you have nothing to fear. A severly harassed female with an egg sac may bite a human, but the bite is said to be no worse than a bee sting.

Female Black-and-yellow Argiope. Be sure to click on this photo to enlarge it so that you can see the characteristic zig-zag stabilimentum that she weaves into her web.

An interesting feature of the argiope spiders is that they weave a ribbon of silk called a stabilimentum into their webs; this stabilimentum is often in a zig-zag pattern. Although entomologists cannot agree on the true purpose of the stabilimentum, there are several theories as to why argiope spiders expend energy to create them. One possibility is that it adds to the stability of the web. Another idea is that the stabilimentum is easily seen by birds and mammals that as a result avoid the web and therefore don't destroy it. Others think that the structure helps to camouflage the spider, while some think that the stabilimentum may actually attract potential prey. Regardless of its purpose, each species of argiope spider produces a distinctive stabilimentum that helps biologists distinguish between species by only looking at the webs.

There are five species of Argiope in North America, with a sixth (Bruennich's Argiope, Argiope bruennichi) potentially present in Alaska. Of the five species in the continental United States, three have fairly restricted ranges. The Silver Argiope (Argiope argentata) is primarily known from the southern parts of California, Texas, and Florida, as well as from Arizona. A similar species, Argiope blanda, is known in the United States only from the southern tip of Texas. Florida Argiope (Argiope florida) can be found in the southeastern United States, from North Carolina to Florida and west to Louisiana; it may also be found in Arizona. The other two species are widespread. The one I see most frequently is the Black-and-yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia).

Female Black-and-yellow Argiope, dorsal side.

Black-and-yellow Argiopes have a characteristic black and yellow pattern on the back of their abdomen, whereas the carapace is covered in silvery hairs. The legs are mostly black but often have reddish or orangish coloration at the proximal end. Black-and-yellow Argiopes also have distinctive yellow and black coloration on their undersides. You can find this species of spider in old fields, wet meadows, riparian areas, and gardens.

Female Black-and-yellow Argiope, ventral side.

The other widespread species is the Banded Argiope (Argiope trifasciata).

Female Banded Argiope, dorsal side.

Banded Argiopes are identified by the yellow, black, and silvery-white stripes on the back of their abdomens. Like the previous species, the carapace of this species is covered with silvery hairs. The legs of the Banded Argiope are striped black and orangish-brown. The underside of the abdomen of the Banded Argiope is also distinctively patterned with black and yellow. You can find the Banded Argiope in grassy and shrubby areas that are usually a bit drier than where you find the Black-and-yellow Argiope, but the two can be found in the same area.

Female Banded Argiope, ventral side.

One of my observational differences in the females of these two species is that the Black-and-yellow Argiope seems to drop from her web fairly quickly when I bump into it, whereas the Banded Argiope seems to hold her ground.

If you are one of those people who is deathly afraid of spiders, I hope that this at least gives you a better respect for the argiopes. If you are one who likes spiders, be sure to get out in the next couple of weeks before it gets too cold to admire these large black and yellow arachnids.

Blue Curls Resurfaces

2011-09-18T15:55:00.000-04:00

On a recent work trip in Muskegon County, Michigan, Linda VanAndel and I saw the State Threatened Blue Curls (Trichostema dichotomum) in bloom. This annual mint has flowers that are small (only about 1 cm long) but that are quite interesting, with arching hair-like stamens (Trichostema in fact means "hair-like stamens") curled over the single lower lip. Looking at the form of the flowers, you can see how the lower, purple-spotted lip serves as a nice landing pad for insects in search of nectar, while the curled stamens deposit pollen on the back of the oblivious feeding insect. The style is also curled and arching, meaning that the next Blue Curls flower that the insect visits will be pollinated when the pollen on the insect's back rubs up against the receptive stigma. This is an excellent pollination strategy, considering that bee species characterstically move from flower to flower of plants of the same species in search of nectar.

Blue Curls is known from many states and provinces in the eastern half of North America. It grows in coarse, acidic soils in open areas including prairies, savannas, open woodlands, sandhills, and pine flatwoods. Blue Curls relies on fire or other disturbance to persist as part of a local flora, as it is not tolerant of competition from other plant species.

Stable over its North American range, Blue Curls is also a species of concern in Indiana (State Rare). The site where we saw it in Michigan was excavated a few years ago, creating disturbed, open soil that is ideal. I have seen it at a few sites in Indiana, including one location in Porter County that historically was mined for sand and another along a recently excavated roadside berm in St. Joseph County (both, again, disturbed sandy soil). The yet to be answered question is: where does this species come from when there is no apparent seed source and sandy soil is excavated? Have the seeds been covered by years of sand and organic accumulation, just waiting for a disturbance to bring them back to the surface so that they can germinate? Are the seeds brought in by excavating equipment? My guess is the former, but then you have to wonder how long the seeds can remain viable. Surely, it takes hundreds, if not thousands, of years for a foot or more of soil to accumulate, meaning that the seeds may remain viable for that long. Nature is resilient.

Small Mammals That Excite Even A Wildlife Biologist

2011-09-05T17:35:00.003-04:00

I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the two photos in this post, but I couldn't resist including them. Within a week's time, I saw two mammal species that made even esteemed Cardno JFNew wildlife biologist Jeremy Sheets giddy.

At a mitigation wetland at a landfill in Lake County, Indiana, I was sampling vegetation quadrats when I heard a Mallard smacking its wing against the water. I've seen Killdeer on many the occasion perform the "broken wing" routine when trying to keep a predator away from a nest, but I'd never heard of a Mallard displaying this behavior. Still, that was all that I could imagine was going on. The wing smacking continued, so I eventually walked in the direction of the noise, but the Mallard didn't leave the spot. As I got closer and the smacking stopped, I saw that the back of the Mallard's neck was covered in blood. Then I saw a small, dark mammal bound and scurry away through the several inches of water. I'd witnessed a kill! I followed in the direction that I'd seen the mammal go but I couldn't find it. Reluctantly, I went back to sampling without seeing the predator. Soon after, I heard rustling of vegetaton from the location of the dead Mallard. I snuck back over and again saw the dark mammal scurry away. I decided this time to stay close to the dead Mallard and wait to see if the culprit returned. Less than a minute later, I saw the killer, shown below.

This was my second ever live encounter with a Mink (Mustela vision), but my first encounter when I wasn't in a car. They live in areas where there is water, such as borders of lakes, marshes, streams, ditches, and ponds. Mink are omnivores, but nearly all of their food consists of other animals, and their preferred prey is Common Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus). These dark-colored weasel relatives are also known to inhabit Common Muskrat dens and usually eventually drive these slightly larger mammals away. At this site, there were numerous Muskrats two years ago, but this year I saw only abandoned dens. Because of their typically nocturnal habits, Mink are often not observed by humans. Mink are found throughout much of North America, with the exceptions of parts of northern Canada and the southwestern United States.

My second mammal encounter occurred at a mitigation site in Superior, Wisconsin, while I was meeting with representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. As we were talking, the Corps of Engineers biologist saw a squirrel come out from under a parked vehicle.

This was my first ever encounter with a Franklin's Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus franklinii), a rare diurnal species restricted in range to east-central Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba south to northern Kansas, northern Illinois, and northwestern Indiana. At first, we thought we may be looking at a Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), but this individual was smaller than a Gray Squirrel and had a gray head and gray tail with a brown body, and we later saw its burrow in the loose soil of an exposed mound of dirt. Franklin's Ground Squirrels feed on a mix of plants and animals, with green clover leaves being the primary vegetation and caterpillars and ants being the primary animals. They are found in dense grassy areas, often along railroads and on roadsides.

Another Successful Half Marathon

2011-08-26T22:07:00.005-04:00

The morning of 14 August, we were in Chicago for the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. Since Lindsay and her dad were running, I manned the camera.

The weather was quite pleasant, cool with a few short-lived showers during the day.

In the photograph below, Lindsay and Jack are approximately halfway done, still with enough energy to wave at the camera.

Below is a photograph at mile 13, with just 0.1 mile left to go!

Great job, Lindsay and Jack!

Chicago Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon Finishers!

Fail, To Some Extent

2011-08-26T20:14:00.012-04:00

I apologize for the delay between posts, but things have been pretty busy lately. Since the Thismia Hunt on 13 August, I've been in five states, including spending nearly a week and a half in Superior, Wisconsin. I'm back home, with plenty of blogging material... but first, a brief Thismia Hunt recap.

Unfortunately, this was the only Thismia americana that I saw on 13 August...

... and it was a lifesize model in a display at the hunt headquarters.

Our team of nine hopeful hunters (several of which are pictured above) spent the day at DuPont Nature Preserve in Gary, Indiana, scouring as much of the wet prairie habitat as we could in five short hours.

Paul Labus (above) of The Nature Conservancy knows this site better than anyone, and he took us to the most likely places where Thismia might occur.

Although our hunt for Thismia was unsuccessful, we were successful in seeing some pretty nice dune and swale habitat with wet prairie in the swales and savannas on the dunes. The wet prairie shown above seemed ideal for Thismia americana, as several of the species originally found growing with the tiny saprophyte were growing here. Our group tallied over 225 plant species during our surveys, which is fairly impressive since we probably only covered 1/4 to 1/2 acre thoroughly, plus our walk to and from the areas that we surveyed.

Another very successful aspect of the Thismia Hunt was the turnout of Thismia hunters. There were over 90 people searching for Thismia (including several very well known Chicago Region botanists) and celebrating 20 years of conservation in the Calumet Region on 13 August. Many of these were people I hadn't seen in a while, and others were new acquaintances.

I am already looking forward to the next Thismia Hunt, as I still maintain hope that it is out there, somewhere.

Hunting For A Ghost Plant

2011-08-05T20:36:00.011-04:00

I have big plans for next Saturday, August 13, 2011. Along with numerous other botanists from the Chicago Region and beyond, I will be spending the day on my hands and knees in search of arguably the most intriguing plant species in the world, Thismia americana, as part of Thismia Hunt 2011. First observed in early August 1912 near Lake Calumet in Cook County, Illinois, observed and monitored for five straight growing seasons, and last seen in the wild in 1916, this tiny member of the mostly tropical family Burmanniaceae is far removed from its closest relative, Fairy Lantern (Thismia rodwayi), which grows only in Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania. In fact, most of the plants in this family grow in rich, loamy primeval forests that receive large amounts of precipitation, and no other Thismia species are even known to occur in the temperate zone. Thismia americana has only ever been observed growing in two locations - the location of the original discovery and a site only approximately 1/3 mile away - and has not been seen alive since the year that the Chicago Cubs played their first game in Wrigley Field (then Weeghman Park).

Finding a plant that hasn't been seen in nearly a century is difficult enough, I should think. Add to that the fact that the entire plant consists of subterranean roots from which a short floral stalk arises, upon which a mysterious tubular flower up to at most 1.5 cm develops. Consider also that the translucent flower is mostly white with blue-green perianth lobes, and that only the pastel blue-green portion of the plant actually emerges from the soil between clumps of mosses. Also, if the phenology of Thismia americana is similar to that of its orchid-like relatives, it may not flower every year, or its flowers may persist fully underground. Taking all of these things into account, as well as the fact that during a Thismia hunt several years ago small white beads were randomly hidden and very few of them were ever found even after volunteer surveyors were told exactly where to look, isn't it possible that Thismia still exists somewhere, undetected for nearly 100 years? I certainly think so!

So who could have possibly initially discovered this saprophytic, nearly subterranean and leafless plant growing amongst the club moss Selaginella and the ground-hugging mosses Aneura and Hypnum beneath wet prairie species such as Sweetflag (Acorus americanus), Redtop (Agrostis gigantea), Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), Common Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), Grass-leaved Goldenrod (Euthamia sp.), Blueflag Iris (Iris virginica), Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), and Late Goldenrod (Solidago gigantea) in a remnant lake plain prairie of glacial Lake Chicago? It was none other than the sharp-eyed 23-year old University of Chicago botany graduate student Norma Etta Pfeiffer, who was on all fours searching for liverworts on that memorable August morning. As a result of her amazing discovery and subsequent research on the new-to-science plant she named Thismia americana, Pfeiffer just two years later became the youngest person to receive a PhD from the University of Chicago. Sadly, just two years after her initial discovery and the same year that the plant name Thismia americana was published, Pfeiffer returned to the site to find that a barn had been constructed on the site of her discovery. More recently, this area has been developed into an oil-tank storage area. Thismia was also observed by Pfeiffer in a second location which consisted of cattails (Typha sp.) in a swale between ancient beach ridges. It is unclear whether this location still exists in a natural state or if it, too, has suffered the fate of development.

To date, this is the closest I've ever been to Thismia americana - holding a 2-inch, glycerine-filled vial that contains (and even dwarfs) the miniscule plant. I hope that one day, maybe even next weekend, I will have the opportunity to experience living Thismia.

Please wish me (and all of the Thismia hunters) luck next weekend as we crawl around like ants beneath the tall prairie species searching for this lilliputian ghost plant.

That's One Big Caterpillar

2011-08-02T00:00:00.000-04:00

While on Harsen's Island in St. Clair County, Michigan last week, Tony Troche found a thick, enoromous caterpillar. After a quick check on someone's fancyphone, we were able to determine that our caterpillar was that of a Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia).

A couple of years ago, Lindsay found a dead Cecropia Moth in our driveway. To see that post, which includes more information on the species, click here.

Harsen's Island Milkweeds

2011-07-29T18:38:00.003-04:00

During the past two weeks, I had the opportunity to spend five days botanizing and doing rare plant surveys with several coworkers in the globally and state imperiled to critically imperiled Lakeplain Wet Prairie and Lakeplain Wet-Mesic Prairie communities on Harsen's Island in St. Clair County, Michigan. These communities have developed on glacial lakeplains and have an impermeable clay layer several feet below the sandy surface layer. This results in inundation in the winter and spring and very dry conditions later in the summer. One of the greatest threats to the remaining lakeplain prairies is invasive species... you can see this impending threat in the photograph below, where there is a dense wall of Common Reed (Phragmites australis) in the background, below the tree line.

Two of the plants of conservation concern that we were looking for on this site were milkweeds (Asclepias spp.). We saw numerous milkweeds on our site, including several common species and both of the rare species.

Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) was one of the common species that we saw. As seen above the blossoms of this milkweed are bubblegum pink... and coincidentally they also smell like bubblegum! With its primary geographic distibution centered in the upper Midwest and New England states, Swamp Milkweed is known from most of the Lower 48, with the exceptions being Mississippi, Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washington. It grows in many different wet plant communities, including wet prairies, emergent marshes, swamp forests, bogs, and along streams and pond margins.

The milkweed above, Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), grows in much drier conditions and often in well-drained sandy soils. You can find this handsome orange-flowered species growing in prairies and savannas as well as along roadsides and on glades throughout the eastern half of the United States and adjacent Canada, as well as in the southwestern United States. Unlike the other milkweeds, which have a white, milky latex, Butterfly Milkweed has clear sap.

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca, above) was abundant on the site we investigated on Harsen's Island. Although it is an opportunistic native species that grows in heavily degraded areas, Common Milkweed also grows in various prairie types. The corolla of this species can be pink, as in the photograph above, or more cream-colored. Although its North American distribution includes 39 of the states in the contiguous United States, Common Milkweed is most abundantly distributed in the upper Midwest, the Great Lakes states, and New England.

Now for the species of conservation concern...

We saw numerous individuals and populations of Purple Milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens). As seen above, the corollas of this State Threatened species are a deeper pink than those of Swamp Milkweed or Common Milkweed, ranging even to reddish or purplish. The center of Purple Milkweed's geographical distribution is Missouri and Illinois, with peripheral populations scattered throughout much of the rest of the eastern United States and Ontario. St. Clair County, Michigan, where Harsen's Island is located, is approaching the northernmost limit of the species' distribution. Purple Milkweed is found in wet prairies, oak savannas, and glades, as well as on woodland borders and in thickets.

We also observed some stunning populations of Sullivant's Milkweed (Asclepias sullivantii), also known as Prairie Milkweed. With glabrous, ascending leaves that have a striking pink midvein, the large, pink corollas of this State Threatened milkweed don't need to be present to make a correct identification. Of the species of milkweed discussed in this post, Sullivant's Milkweed has the most narrow geographical distribution, being found in the prairie region of the Great Plains and the Midwest, north into Ontario. As the common name suggests, this attractive milkweed is a prairie obligate.

Unscathed... Mostly

2011-07-22T20:03:00.013-04:00

Just as I was getting over the worst case of poison ivy that I've ever had (here's a hint, genius... don't weed whip poison ivy while wearing shorts and flip flops), I joined Scott Holaday and Lee Casebere last Sunday to check out a property near Culver, Indiana. Scott and Lee had visited this private tract in the spring looking for Four-toed Salamanders (Hemidactylium scutatum), and their description of the site, a swampy forest with a lot of ferns, sounded too good to pass up. Had I known ahead of time that there would be as much Poison Sumac (Toxicodendron vernix) as there was in this swamp, I still would have wanted to join Scott and Lee, but I'm not sure if Lindsay would have approved of me going.

Shortly after arriving, Lee found a mole salamander (Ambystoma) in the laterale-jeffersonianum complex, a group that is notorious for hybridization and that requires genetic analysis to accurately determine the species. This interesting complex of salamanders includes an all female triploid group that requires sperm from a male salamander from a related species in the same genus to initiate reproduction, but the sperm is often then discarded and no genetic material from the male makes its way into the offspring. This asexual form of reproduction is known as gynogenesis. The best that I can do is to say that this is either a Blue-spotted Salamander (Ambystoma laterale), a Jefferson's Salamander (Ambystoma jeffersonianum), or one of the Ambystoma hybrids.

Our focus quickly shifted kingdoms when Lee exclaimed, "Here's a Purple Fringed Orchid!"

When Scott and Lee first told me about this site, the possibility of finding Lesser Purple Fringed Orchid (Platanthera psycodes) amongst the Cinnamon Fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) and Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis) and beneath the Red Maple (Acer rubrum), Black Ash (Fraxinus nigra), and Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor) immediately registered. Little did I know, however, that we would find the largest population of this attractive orchid that any of the three of us had ever seen. Had I done my research ahead of time, I might have thought that there would be less of a chance of finding Lesser Purple Fringed Orchid on this site, even though the habitat was perfect, as it was not mentioned in the monumental 1920s work by Evermann and Clark on the physical and biological resources around Lake Maxinkuckee. In addition, none of the distribution maps that I've seen show this species in Marshall County, Indiana. This makes our finding of an estimated 50 to 100 Lesser Purple Fringed Orchid plants an even more exciting find, as well as a potential county record.

In addition to Lesser Purple Fringed Orchid, Cinnamon Fern, Royal Fern, Black Ash, and an abundance of Poison Sumac, some of the more uncommon plants that we discovered in this swamp forest included Slender Sedge (Carex leptalea), Bulblet-bearing Water Hemlock (Cicuta bulbifera), Crested Wood Fern (Dryopteris cristata), Pipes (Equisetum fluviatile), Floating Manna Grass (Glyceria septentrionalis), Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), Stalked Water Horehound (Lycopus rubellus), Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense var. canadense), Chokeberry (Aronia prunifolia), Dwarf Raspberry (Rubus pubescens), Great Water Dock (Rumex orbiculatus), Rough-leaved Goldenrod (Solidago patula), Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), and Smooth White Violet (Viola blanda).

After sludging through mucky soils, swatting at bloodthirsty mosquitoes, losing a gallon of sweat, and brushing up against Poison Sumac plants while trying to squeeze between them, I was convinced that the title of this blog post was going to be "Worth The Rash." Luckily, it appears as though I've escaped with only a small spot of the nasty underneath my left eye. To see 50 to 100 Lesser Purple Fringed Orchids, a single spot of poison sumac is definitely acceptable.

It's Like Looking In A Mirror

2011-07-10T17:29:00.005-04:00

In June, Lindsay and I, joined by Lindsay's parents, took a vacation to Costa Rica. This was our second visit to the rich coast, and this time our travels took us to Guanacaste on the Pacific side of the country. We are still going through photos, so more will show up here as we have time to get through them all.

On our first visit to Costa Rica back in 2007, the hatching Green Sea Turtles were the overwhelming highlight of our trip. This time, though, the primates provided some of the most memorable moments. We saw three of the four species of monkeys that Costa Rica has to offer; we did not see the smallest species, Central American Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri oerstedii), and we didn't get photographs of the largest species, Geoffroy's Spider Monkey (Ateles geoffroyi). The three species that we saw all have prehensile tails that are used as one-fingered fifth limbs, allowing them to move with swift agility through the treetops.

Nearly every day on our week-long trip, we heard the grunting and roaring of Mantled Howler Monkeys (Alouatta palliata) from our hotel room. We also saw these large platyrrhines on three or four occasions during our day trips. Our best looks were along our drive to a boat tour through Palo Verde National Park on the Tempisque River. Mantled Howler Monkeys have a geographical range from Mexico to Ecuador and live for up to 15 to 20 years.

Some sources consider Mantled Howler Monkeys the largest species of monkey in Costa Rica, at least by weight, as large males can weigh up to 22 lbs. Other sources say that this species only gets to 16 lbs., and that therefore the Geoffroy's Spider Monkey, which gets up to 18 lbs., is the largest monkey in the country. Geoffroy's Spider Monkeys are more slender than Mantled Howler Monkeys, however. Mantled Howler Monkeys are strictly vegetarians that live in groups usually ranging from four to 40 individuals. These groups have home ranges of 25 to 150 acres. The adjective "howler" in the common name of this species comes from the loud noises that are made by the males (most often at surise and sunset) to communicate with group members and define territories; these communicating sounds can be heard up to three miles away. When disturbed by people, Mantled Howler Monkeys are known to throw feces with precise accuracy.

While on our boat tour at Palo Verde National Park, we had some nice looks at White-faced Capuchins (Cebus capucinus). This species is known from Honduras to Ecuador and has a life span of more than 50 years.

White-faced Capuchins, also known as White-headed Capuchins, are middle-of-the-road in terms of size in relation to other Costa Rican monkeys, weighing approximately 8 lbs. Unlike the Mantled Howler Monkey, White-faced Capuchins are omnivores, feeding on fruit, leaves, insects, and even small mammals and other vertebrates. They live in troops that can consist of up to 40 individuals and have home ranges of 79 to 210 acres. Whereas Mantled Howler Monkeys have not been observed using tools, White-faced Capuchins, which are said to be highly intelligent, have been seen using tools to obtain food and as weapons, and they also apparently use certain plants as herbal medicines by rubbing them on their fur. White-faced Capuchins get their common name from the resemblance of their coloration to the cowls worn by Capuchin friars. If you have seen the Friends episodes where Ross has a pet monkey, this species likely looks familiar to you, as Marcel was a capuchin monkey.

Stay tuned for more photographs and commentary from Costa Rica.

Who's Up For A Pint Of Bitterns?

2011-07-01T17:13:00.004-04:00

American Bitterns (Botaurus lentiginosus) are pretty secretive birds. It's a treat when you actually get to see one, as they are often in amongst the cattails and bulrushes. When approached, instead of flushing like herons and egrets do, they stand straight up and sway back and forth, blending in beautifully with vegetation blowing in the wind.

Photograph by Walter Siegmund

I don't think I've ever seen more than one American Bittern at a time, and I can probably count on both of my hands the number of American Bitterns I've ever seen. Tony Troche and Jenny Allison, however, can now say that they've seen a pint of American Bitterns. While working in Superior, Wisconsin in early June, Tony and Jenny flushed an adult American Bittern. Shortly after, they came across the amazing scene below...

Photograph by Tony Troche

... four hatchling American Bitterns in a nest! Amazingly, it seems that they've already learned the "freeze and stretch your neck, bill to the sky" routine when approached by people. And even at this young age, they blend in pretty well.

Thanks to Tony for allowing me to post his excellent photo.

A Minnesota Cedar Swamp

2011-06-24T20:00:00.006-04:00

On a recent work trip to Superior, Wisconsin, our group of monitoring biologists made a brief trip to Carlton County, Minnesota to check out the flora in a rich conifer swamp dominated by Northern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis). These groundwater-influenced wetland communities are often known as cedar swamps.

I was excited to find a club moss that I'd never seen that generally has a more northern distribution (with populations ranging south into the Appalachians in eastern North America and into New Mexico in western North America). Stiff Clubmoss (Lycopodium annotinum), shown below, grows in coniferous forests and in exposed rocky areas.

Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis, below) is also a species of northern North America that extends south in higher elevations in the western United States into Arizona. Like the inflorescences of the related Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), the widespread small tree of the eastern United States, the four large white "floral" structures are actually bracts, or modified leaves, not petals. The flowers are the small white structures clustered above the bracts.

A boreal lily species of eastern North America that is common in the northwoods is Bluebead (Clintonia borealis), shown below. The crushed leaves of this species emit an odor that smells like cucumbers.

Yet another boreal species that we saw at the Carlton County Cedar Swamp was Goldthread (Coptis trifolia), shown below. Named for its threadlike yellow roots, Goldthread grows in mixed and coniferous forests, bogs, and on tundra.

One of the most interesting aspects of Labrador Tea (Ledum groenlandicum, below) is the dense reddish-orange tangled pubescence on the undersides of the revolute-margined leaves. The flowers aren't half bad to look at, either. This shrub is found in boggy areas in Canada and only the northernmost parts of the United States. Some botanists now consider this species to be in the genus Rhododendron.

Naked Mitrewort (Mitella nuda) gets its common name and specific epithet from its naked (usually lacking leaves) stem. With a distribution that barely reaches into the northern United States, this is a boreal species of forests, swamps, and bogs. Shown below, the flowers of this species remind me of snowflakes.

One of two orchid species that we saw in the cedar swamp was Moccasin Flower (Cypripedium acaule), another plant with a leafless stem. This species of eastern North America, shown below, grows in acidic soils in forests, woodlands, and bogs.

The only places I have seen Yellow Coralroot (Corallorhiza trifida), shown below, are in Superior, Wisconsin and in this Minnesota cedar swamp. In addition to the northern parts of the eastern United States, this small partially parasitic orchid also grows in montane regions of the western Unitied States, as well as throughout Canada. It can be found in forests and swamps.

I look forward to my return trip to the northwoods in August to see what other boreal delights we can find.

What's That Sedge?

2011-06-17T00:00:00.001-04:00

That's a question I hear fairly often, at least from the somewhat more botanically advanced people who join me in the field. To most, the leafy monocot in the photograph below probably looks like any other "grass," but in fact, it is a sedge, a member of the family Cyperaceae, an evolutionarily advanced family of plants that does not waste energy creating showy petals to attract pollinators. The genus Carex is a member of this family characterized by having perigynia (modified bracts around the flowers and fruits) that completely enclose the flowers except for a pore at the tip from which the style protrudes, and that usually has leaves along the stems (not just at the base of the plant). There are approximately 150 Carex here in the Chicago Region, but the one below is one of the easiest to identify.

You can tell that the sedge above is rhizomatous, meaning that it spreads by horizontal underground stems, leading to the presence of a large colony (as opposed to being cespitose, or clump forming). The coarse leaves are also long and arching, and they are green to yellow-green in color. Some sedges have pubescent leaves and/or sheaths, but this one does not. Many people would consider this one of the lake sedges.

Because this plant spreads so readily by underground stems, it often does not need to produce seed, and therefore does not flower. If you are lucky enough to find the flowers, shown above, you will notice that the perigynia are more than 5 mm long and pubescent, and that the female and male flowers are in separate elongated spikes. In the photograph above, the female, or pistillate, flowers are the yellowish structures, whereas the male, or staminate, flowers are the pinkish-brown structures at the top of the photo.

If these characteristics weren't enough, or if you couldn't find flowers, all you would need to do to correctly identify this sedge would be to check out the ventral sides of the leaf sheaths. As shown above, there is a dark red-purple v- or y-shaped area at the top of the inner band of the sheath. All of these characters point to this sedge as being Hairy-fruited Lake Sedge, Carex trichocarpa. Hairy-fruited Lake Sedge can be found in calcareous meadows, wet prairies, and marshes throughout much of the northern half of the eastern United States, as well as in the adjacent Canadian provinces.

Our Newest Resident

2011-06-11T19:30:00.006-04:00

This spring, Lindsay and I had been hearing an Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius) singing regularly around our house. On a couple of occasions, I saw a first summer male Orchard Oriole, as well as a female Orchard Oriole near our house. A couple of weeks ago, I found this nest about eight feet off the ground in a Norway Spruce (Picea abies) in front of our house.

I knew immediately by the shape of the nest that it was an oriole nest, and my suspicion was that the Orchard Orioles we had been hearing and seeing had built the nest. Orchard Orioles usually nest in trees in riparian areas, but they are also known to nest on farms and in parks.

Today, I caught the female in the nest. You'll probably need to click the photo below to see her in the nest.

I have some concerns about the location of this nest, as the branches to which it is attached blow around quite a bit in the wind. I'll keep an eye on the nest, and hopefully I'll have the chance to post photos of young Orchard Orioles soon.

Peek-a-boo

2011-06-04T00:10:00.002-04:00

In early May, Justin Thomas and I went on our annual spring botanical trip. This year's trip was to South Carolina. I will be posting more photos here and at Get Your Botany On! soon, but in the meantime, here is a photo of an Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina) of which I am quite fond.

Cee-lo in Indiana!

2011-05-30T21:49:00.005-04:00

No... not that Cee-lo...

This Cee-lo... Coeloglossum viride var. virescens, aka Frog Orchid or Long-bracted Green Orchid. I had long hoped to see this inconspicuous orchid in a mesic upland forest setting in the Hoosier State, but until a couple of weekends ago, when Keith Board and I were aided by excellent directions to a known population consisting of a single plant, I had been skunked. Sure, using directions to find the plant wasn't the same as finding a population on our own, but it was still exciting, and now I have a better search image for finding this plant in its Midwestern habitats. At this location, it was surrounded by May Apple (Podophyllum peltatum) and Clustered Black Snakeroot (Sanicula odorata).

Prior to seeing this species in Indiana, the only time I had seen it before was in Colorado, where the associated species and habitat were quite different; I posted about that find here.

Don't blink or you'll miss those flowers. In fact, as we approached the location, I spotted the plant, bent down and took a quick look, and told Keith it wasn't flowering. He told me to check again, and sure enough there were tiny yellowish green lips hanging down beneath the hood-like calyces. The flowers were quite a bit smaller than what I remembered on the plants I saw in Colorado; in Colorado, the plant is known as Coeloglossum viride ssp. bracteatum. All of the varieties and subspecies are now taxonomically lumped together, and the plant is currently known as Dactylorhiza viridis. No matter what you choose to call it, this is one cool orchid that was certainly worth the trip to see it.

Tree Swallows

2011-05-22T00:49:00.004-04:00

Binocular views of swallows are often less than satisfactory, as they quickly maneuver through the sky making rapid movements and sharp turns. That's why I was thrilled to get these shots of one of our more common species of swallow, Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor).

The bird in the photograph above is an adult male; the one below is a drab adult female. Some female Tree Swallows have more blue pigmentation in their feathers and thus more closely resemble the male.

I remember when I used to mow softball fields at Painesville Township Park in northeast Ohio, before I knew anything at all about birds, and the swallows (Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica), as far as I can recall) would dive-bomb me the entire time. It wasn't until a few years later when I realized that they weren't at all dive-bombing me, but instead they were feeding on the insects that I was kicking up with the mower.

Final Shots of the Great Basin

2011-05-14T21:02:00.005-04:00

I expect that this will be the last of my posts on my trip this April to the Great Basin Desert. Of the four deserts in North America, the Great Basin Desert is the largest and the coldest.

As I drove from Salt Lake City, Utah to Ely, Nevada, my first views of the Great Basin were of the Great Salt Lake Desert, pictured above. Deserts are defined as receiving less than 10 inches of precipitation per year or having evapotranspiration rates that exceed precipitation rates. These conditions, at least on an annual basis, are too dry to support vegetation.

As I continued west, I started seeing salt deposits in places. Eventually, the amount of salt deposits was greater than the amount of sand. At Bonneville Salt Flats (pictured above), the salt hardpan was all that could be seen for miles and miles, causing the desert to appear snow covered. This area is what remains of the 20,000 square mile and 1000 foot deep Lake Bonneville, which existed during the Pleistocene epoch.

Since the early 1900s, Bonneville Salt Flats has been home to the Bonneville Speedway, a test track where numerous land speed records have been set. In 1997, Andy Green set the current speed record of a staggering 763 mph.

After driving out of the salt flats, the scene became more like that above, with scattered big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus spp.), saltbush (Atriplex spp.), and other drought-tolerant shrubs.

This is more representative of the portion of the Great Basin where I spent my two weeks.

As I hope you've been able to see through this series of posts, the Great Basin is home to many stunning views even before the plants begin to flower. As I've said in previous posts, I can't wait to get back here at some point when the vegetation is further along.

Cave Lake State Park

2011-05-13T19:57:00.003-04:00

On one of my final days in Nevada last month, I made a quick stop at Cave Lake State Park, which was just a few miles down the road from our hotel.

As dusk was rapidly approaching on both the day and my two week trip, I took a quick stroll on Twisted Pine Trail. Along the trail were numerous twisted trees, but most of them were cedars instead of pines. These twisted cedars provided intriguing photoraphic subjects.

The gravelly, mountainous desert yields harsh conditions for plants to thrive... I would love to see this place during the growing season.

It apparently doesn't take much soil for the cedars and pines to root into the limestone substrate.

Scenic views at Cave Lake were abundant; the shot below is from the end of Twisted Pine Trail.

I wish I had more time to spend at Cave Lake State Park and other natural areas during my short time in Nevada. Hopefully Lindsay and I can make time to visit this part of the arid west soon.

Great Basin National Park

2011-05-11T21:20:00.000-04:00

Still trying to get caught up from my Nevada trip last month, so here is another set of photos with little commentary. These photos were taken at Great Basin National Park during a quick trip I took there on 17 April.

No, my camera wasn't angled for the photograph above, though it looks like it.

A frothy stream through an aspen forest...

... and a few shots from the point where my trail disappeared...

Comins Lake

2011-05-04T00:00:00.000-04:00

As if we couldn't get enough birding in during our work days at Spring Valley, nearly every day on the way back to the hotel we stopped at Comins Lake. Located in Steptoe Valley, Comins Lake is an artificial lake that was created in 1953 when Highway 93 was realigned, damming Steptoe, Cave, and Willow Creeks.

Although dormant, the plant community immediately surrounding the lake appeared rather interesting, with a dominance of rushes and sedges.

On most days, we only spent a few minutes watching waterfowl on the lake, but on a couple of occasions when I had a bit more time I walked or drove around other parts of the lake and spent more time birding. Comins Lake was very productive and played a huge part in my reaching 80 bird species for my trip list.

I simply could not get enough of the Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus - now that's a descriptive Latin name if I've ever seen one... yellow head yellow head). These loud, obnoxious Icterids with bright yellow heads and striking white wing patches were present in large flocks every day at Comins Lake.

I'd only seen Cinnamon Teal (Anas cyanoptera, below) in books and photos, so it was a real treat to see this reddish duck on several occasions at Comins Lake. I was surpried at just how red the males were; females are quite drab, and I was really only able to identify them at long range by their association with the brightly-colored male.

Cinnamon Teals are dabbling ducks, meaning that they feed mostly at the surface. The two ducks below are diving ducks, meaning that they dive for food and often spend several seconds under water. This can be frustrating when trying to photograph them.

Above is a male Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) in breeding plumage. This is an unmistakable duck, with its powder blue bill, red body, black cap, white face, and rudder-like tail that often sticks straight up. If ever there was a cute duck, Ruddy Duck is it.

On the opposite end of the size spectrum for diving ducks is the much larger Canvasback (Aythya valisneria). Those of you familiar with aquatic plants will recognize the specific epithet of the Latin name for Canvasback as the genus for eel grass (Vallisneria americana). The winter buds and roots of Eel grass are said to be the preferred food of this diver during the non-breeding period.

We observed one or two Common Loons (Gavia immer, above) on the lake. One of its alternate names (Great Northern Diver) provides a precise description of the habits of this bird. Common Loons can dive up to 200 feet deep in search of fish to feed upon. Growing to over three feet long, Common Loons can weigh up to 12 pounds; they are not the most graceful of birds in flight.

A common bird on Comins Lake that was intermixed with American Coot (Fulica americana, not pictured) was the Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis), known in some places at the Black-necked Grebe. The birds in the photograph above are in breeding plumage; in non-breeding plumage, they are much less spectacular, with a grayish body, whitish neck and face, and dark cap.

I only saw one gull that was close enough to identify during my trip. Bonaparte's Gulls (Chroicocephalus philadelphia, above) have black hoods when in breeding plumage, but in non-breeding plumage, as I usually see them in Indiana, they have white heads with a small black spot behind the eye. During migration, this species can be seen throughout nearly the entire United States, but to see them on breeding grounds, you would need to travel north to the taiga and boreal forest regions of Canada.

I was excited to see the bird in the photograph above, Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus). Brewer's Blackbirds are fairly uncommon in Indiana during migration, but this species is common in the western United States during the summer (and year round in some places). Brewer's Blackbirds can be difficult to distinguish from the more eastern Rusty Blackbirds (Euphagus carolinus), but males of the former are more glossy than those of the latter, and the female Brewer's Blackbird often does not have the yellow iris (seen in the male above), whereas the female Rusty Blackbird does have a yellow iris.

Finally, as I posted previously, one of the highlights for me at Comins Lake was American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana). This shorebird is primarily a western species, but I have seen them on one occasion along Lake Michigan at Indiana Dunes State Park. The very smooth looking plumage, white eyering, and upturned bill makes these birds look cartoonish to me.

Other birds of interest at Comins Lake included Clark's Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii), Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps), Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), Great Egret (Casmerodius albus), Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi), Gadwall (Anas strepera), American Wigeon (Anas americana), Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata), Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca), Redhead (Aythya americana), Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris), Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis), Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola), Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus), Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis), Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus), Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), Common Raven (Corvus corax), Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis), Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris), Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides), and Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta).

Nevada Sparrows

2011-05-01T00:00:00.000-04:00

There were several sparrows that I hoped to see while in Nevada, and luckily I saw most of them. One (not pictured) was the very drab Brewer's Sparrow (Spizella breweri), which began showing up at Spring Valley the last week that I was there. Brewer's Sparrows are known from southwestern North Dakota to Texas and west in the United States, reaching north into southern Canada and wintering in Mexico. Another sparrow not pictured here was the Black-throated Sparrow (Amphispiza bilineata) a beautiful sparrow with a grayish body, white face stripes and a striking black throat. Black-throated Sparrows are known from the deserts of the western United States and Mexico. Unfortunately, I only saw one Black-throated Sparrow on my trip. Yet another sparrow, which is shown below, was the Sage Sparrow (Amphispiza belli), with its distinctly gray head, black and white mustache stripes, and white breast with distinct stickpin. Sage Sparrows are known for running on the ground between big sagebush (Artemisia tridentata) plants with their tails up... a sight we got very used to seeing at Spring Valley. Sage Sparrows are known from the desert areas of the western United States.

Lark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus, below) is a primarily western sparrow that has a range reaching as far east as Ohio. I had seen this species in Indiana once before, but it was nice to get a good look with a mountain backdrop. Lark Sparrows have an intricate facial pattern and a dark stickpin on a white breast.

The much more widespread Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina, below) is found throughout North America. Chipping Sparrows are easily identified by their rufous cap, black eyeline, and clean gray breast.

I had also hoped to see some new junco species in Nevada, and my wish was granted. We did see the ubiquitous Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis, not pictured), but more exciting was the subspecies shown below, Oregon Junco (Junco hyemalis oreganus). Oregon Juncos have a black head that is distinctly separated from the brown back; they also have reddish flanks. Common in the western United States, Oregon Juncos rarely make it to Indiana. There has been a pair of Oregon Juncos in St. Joseph County, Indiana since December or so. The property owner has had at least one Oregon Junco show up for the past couple of years.

Another subspecies of junco that we saw was the Gray-headed Junco (Junco hyemalis caniceps), shown below. Note that you may need to click on this photo to see it enlarged to be able to see the junco. The light gray color and rusty back distinguish this subspecies from the other subspecies of Dark-eyed Junco. This is a western subspecies that breads from Colorado to New Mexico and that winters in Mexico.

Other sparrows not pictured here that I saw in Nevada were Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus), Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis), and White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys).

Symbols of the Silver State

2011-04-28T22:37:00.004-04:00

While in Nevada recently, I had the opportunity to shoot photographs of two of the state symbols.

The state bird of Nevada is the Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides).

The state flower of Nevada is Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata).

I can clearly see why the Mountain Bluebird is the state bird, as it is abundant and brightly colored. Big Sagebrush as the state flower is an interesting choice. It certainly is abundant and it smells wonderful, but its flowers are individually inconspicuous. I would understand if it was the state plant or the state shrub, as in definitely deserves a place as one of the symbols of the Silver State, but surely there are common, widespread plants with more attractive flowers in Nevada.

Spring Valley

2011-04-28T20:28:00.008-04:00

The part of Nevada in which I was working recently consists of a series of mountain ranges and valleys oriented north to south. The small town in which we stayed, Ely, is located in Steptoe Valley. To the west of Steptoe Valley is the Egan Range, and to its east is the Schell Creek Range. The highest point on both of these ranges is approximately 11,000 ft. Spring Valley, where we spent most of our days, is to the east of the Schell Range; the Snake Range borders Spring Valley to the east. The highest point in the Snake Range is Wheeler Peak, at over 13,000 ft. This is the highest point in Great Basin National Park, and the highest peak in Nevada. The highest point in Nevada is Boundary Peak on the Nevada-California border; this point is technically not a peak because the peak of the White Mountains (to which Boundary Peak belongs) is actually on the California side of the border.

Welcome to Spring Valley! Some of the more common plants throughout the valley include Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), Bud Sage (Artemisia spinescens), Greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus), Yellow Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus), Winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata), and Fourwing Saltbush (Atriplex canescens). Unfortunately, very little was in flower when I was there.

During my stay, I took numerous photographs of this sagebrush desert valley with mountainous backdrop.

By the end of my trip, you couldn't take more than a few steps without seeing one of these reptiles darting into a burrow. This is a Sagebrush Lizard (Sceloporus graciosus), also known as a bluebelly because of the blue coloration on their undersides.

With all of the thorny, shrubby vegetation in the sagebrush desert, Loggerhead Shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus) are right at home, and by the end of my trip were one of our daily observations. These predators hunt insects, lizards, small rodents, and other birds, and then impale them on thorns as they tear them apart for a tasty meal.

Spring Valley is a windy place. We were battered by relentless winds nearly every day. As a result of these winds, dust devils like the one above are a common site.

Wheeler Peak was almost always in clouds or haze. Above and below are a few photos of Wheeler Peak when it was most visible.

In my last post, I mentioned that we watched the Burrowing Owl from 6:30 am to 7:00 pm. This gave us the opportunity to watch the sun go down on Spring Valley, and provided me with some interesting photo opportunities.

Western Burrowing Owl

2011-04-27T21:42:00.005-04:00

One of the highlights of my trip to Nevada was seeing a Western Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea), a small species of owl found in grasslands, deserts, agricultural land, and other open habitats. Burrowing Owls hunt both during the day and at night, catching mostly insects during the day and small mammals at night.

Why is it called a "burrowing" owl, you ask?

The photograph above says it all; Burrowing Owls nest and roost underground in burrows. Be sure to take a look at the top right portion of this photo, where you can see the approximately 8 inch tall Burrowing Owl perched above his burrow. Although Burrowing Owls are capable of digging their own burrows, they more often use burrows initially created by prairie dogs, ground squirrels, badgers, etc. They even find artificial structures, such as culverts, pipes, or burrows intentionally created by humans for Burrowing Owl use inhabitable. In fact, given the choice of an artificial burrow or a natural burrow, Burrowing Owls apparently often choose the manmade structure.

Even though they are able to use artifical structures as burrows, and even though they can withstand disturbance (see Jim McCormac's post on the Burrowing Owls in Cape Coral, Florida), Burrowing Owl populations are unfortunately declining. According to a source from California, the plummeting populations are due to several factors, including habitat loss and fragmentation, removal of rodents that create burrows later used by Burrowing Owls, burrow destruction, pesticide use, predation by non-native species, vehicle strikes, collisions with wind turbines, and shooting; in addition, many states allow "passive relocation" of the owls, but without creation of adequate artificial burrows there is no guarantee that relocated owls will survive (http://www.physorg.com/news204388626.html).

Burrowing Owls are very attentive and alert, but they blend in to their environment so well and stay so still that they can easily be overlooked or mistaken for a clump of dirt. While in Nevada, Brad Woodward and I watched a Burrowing Owl nonstop from 6:30 am to 7:00 pm one day. During that time, it only left its perch for 20 minutes, when it flew to its burrow as a Swainson's Hawk flew by. The only other movement we noticed was turning its head and ejecting a couple of pellets.

In addition to its small size, bright yellow eyes, white eyebrows, and white chin patch, Burrowing Owls have long legs and large feet, as seen in the two photographs below. They also lack ear tufts and are spotted on the back and barred on the front. These characteristics coupled with the habit of being perched on the ground are all you need to know you are looking at a Burrowing Owl.

You know what they say about owls with big feet, don't you?

One Native American tribe believed that Burrowing Owls were protective spirits for brave warriors, and their feathers were worn by warriors to frighten their enemies. You may think, "who would be afraid of this tiny, cute little owl..."

... after seeing the photograph above, I can see why this tribe thought their enemies would be frightened by feathers from a Burrowing Owl!

Nevada Raptors

2011-04-26T22:15:00.007-04:00

When I was initially asked if I would be interested in going to Nevada for work to do raptor surveys, my first thought was "Ferruginous Hawk!" I have always wanted to see this large, snow white-breasted Buteo, but living east of the Mississippi River there is little chance for me to see one along my day-to-day routine. During my two weeks in the Sagebrush State, we had numerous Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis) sightings, including one bird that was present in nearly the same location on our drive down Route 50/93/6 almost every day. Ferruginous Hawks can often be found on the ground or on low perches. The individuals that we saw were nearly all light morph birds; Ben Hess was lucky enough to see a dark morph Ferruginous Hawk during his time in Nevada the three weeks before I was there.

For the three weeks before I arrived in Nevada, Prairie Falcons (Falco mexicanus) were seen in abundance on our site every day, as reported by Ben. During my two weeks, however, they were replaced by the smallest falcon in North America, American Kestrel (Falco sparverius). We did not see any Prairie Falcons, but instead saw four or five American Kestrels each day, primarily in the late afternoon hunting from high perches or hovering.

Another raptor that I expected to see plenty of in Nevada was Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni). Unexpectedly, however, we did not see any Swainson's Hawks during the first half of my trip, but by the end of my trip we were seeing three to five each day. As with many of the other Buteos, there are light and dark morph Swainson's Hawks. The bird in the photograph below appears to be an adult of the intermediate phase.

Below is a photograph of what I believe to be an adult of the dark phase Swainson's Hawk. Note the dark face; the light and intermediate phases have white faces.

One of our highlights had to be seeing the juvenile Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) pictured below soaring over our site. These are enormous birds, reaching up to 30 inches long with a wingspan of over six feet. Juveniles usually show the characteristic white patches on the tail and wings.

I believe that the Golden Eagle below is also a juvenile, as I can still see the white tail patch. Note the small head in relation to the body, another characteristic of the Golden Eagle. The name of this species comes from the golden nape that is present on individuals of all ages and that can somewhat be seen in the photograph below. Also note the feathered legs on the bird in the photograph below.

Throughout much of the eastern United States, the "default" raptor that is seen along roadsides is the Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis); this could not be said for the areas I saw in Nevada. Red-tailed Hawks that we see most commonly in Indiana are said to be the eastern subspecies (B. j. borealis). In Nevada, we most frequently saw the western subspecies (B. j. calurus).

Even within the western subspecies, there are light, dark, and intermediate phases. The bird in the photograph above is the light morph; the one in the photograph below is the dark morph. Thanks to Brian Wheeler for help with identifying this dark morph western Red-tailed Hawk. The dark morphs of all of these Buteos can be very difficult to identify, especially for someone not familiar with the western species in general.

Stay tuned, as I hope to post more photos from my trip to Nevada soon, if I can find the time.

Goodbye, Nevada

2011-04-22T02:37:00.002-04:00

Goodbye, Nevada. You treated me well.

The American Avocets at Comins Lake were a wonderful send-off.

More photos and commentary from my recent trip to Nevada yet to come. I apologize that I have not had time to blog in the last couple of weeks.

That Time Of Year

2011-04-08T22:30:00.009-04:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I spent 2 April 2011 in Attica, Indiana botanizing with Bill Ringer. We first visited Fall Creek Gorge (aka The Potholes) (shown below), and then spent some time in similar habitat on property owned by Bill and some of his neighbors.

Our target for the day, as determined when I first met Bill at the Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society (INPAWS) annual conference in November 2010, was Snow Trillium (Trillium nivale). Little did I know when we set up our excursion that fall day that I would have already had the opportunity to see this species in 2011 with Lee Casebere. Regardless, I met up with Bill last Saturday morning, and it was definitely worth the trip.

It didn't take long to find Snow Trillium (above), which was in bloom just outside of the parking area in a somewhat degraded calcareous upland forest. After seeing our first population of blooming Snow Trillium, we continued to hike, finding more and more Snow Trillium and discussing the other plants we were seeing along the way. Just like every other spring, I couldn't resist photographing the blooming spring wildflowers. I don't know what it is about them... my collection contains loads of photos of all of the plants included in this post, but every spring, I cannot resist the urge to photograph them again. Maybe it is the fact that these plants are adapted to bloom early enough in the year that the trees towering above them have not yet produced leaves, allowing enough sunlight to penetrate to the forest floor. Maybe it is the glorious array of color produced almost instantaneously after the much anticipated build up as the days get longer and the ground temperature increases. Or maybe, just maybe, it is that wait itself that makes this suite of plants so alluring. If Harger's Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis var. hargeri) bloomed in April, would we not display the same exuberance that we do at the first signs of the burgundy blossoms of Bloody Butcher (Trillium recurvatum)? It's just that time of the year.

You've seen them before, and you'll most likely see them here again next year, but I simply cannot resist. Above is Harbinger of Spring (Erigenia bulbosa), and below is Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica).

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) blooms for a very short time, making it difficult to find that perfect plant to photograph. I can't say that I'd ever seen a plant at this stage, with the flowers still mostly closed but starting to open and with a pinkish tinge, somewhat reminiscent of a tulip (Tulipa sp.) flower.

The Bloodroot plants that I enjoy seeing the most, though, are those with open flowers and leaves that are still wrapped tightly around the stem, like the one below.

I had seen these wildflowers blooming already this year, but I had not yet seen the two species below.

Purple Cress (Cardamine douglassii, above) is sometimes confused with the more conservative Spring Cress (Cardamine bulbosa, not pictured), but the former has stems that are pubescent above, sepals that are usually deep purple at the tips, and petals that are often lavender (but sometimes white); the latter has stems that are hairless above, sepals that are usually green, and petals that are white). You can find Purple Cress in nearly any moist woods, regardless of how much disturbance has taken place. Regardless, each year, I take photos of this species the first several times I find it in flower.

And who can resist taking photos of flowering Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria, above)? This has to be one of the most interesting and attractive of the spring wildlfowers, does it not? Like many of the ephemerals, Dutchman's Breeches relies on insects for more than just pollination. In addition to the long-tongued bees that help this species to reproduce, ants play a very important role in seed dispersal of Dutchman's Breeches, as they find the sugary, fleshy seed appendages known as elaiasomes and take them back to their nest for a tasty feast. Unbeknownst to the ants, they are also spreading the seeds to new locations, giving rise to new populations of Dutchman's Breeches within the forest.

Finally, just a few more photos of Snow Trillium from last weekend, as my photographing obsession was taken to new heights with this species this spring (I took almost 100 photos of Snow Trillium at the three sites at which I saw it this year!).

The plant below was tiny, or my lens cap is enormous...

... and lastly, one of my favorite shots of Snow Trillium this year.

Flipping Rocks And Logs

2011-04-01T22:46:00.013-04:00

During the past several weeks, I've done a lot of rock, log, and moss flipping looking for salamanders. Lee Casebere came up to northern Indiana on 13 March 2011 to search for early Four-toed Salamanders (Hemidactylium scutatum), and Scott Holaday and I joined him in this effort.

Unfortunately, no Four-toed Salamanders could be found... the photograph above is from September 2003 in Michigan. We knew that it was a bit early to find salamanders, but we were looking more for habitat than anything else. The habitat that we were searching for was vernal pool with mosses at the waterline. Four-toed Salamanders also are found in bogs, near springs, and in swamps in scattered areas throughout much of the eastern United States. Mosses, especially fern moss (Thuidium spp.) and sphagnum (Sphagnum spp.), are important for this species because females lay eggs within and underneath them to keep the eggs moist and to allow the newly hatched salamanders to drop into the water directly beneath. Four-toed Salamanders can be distinguished by the black-spotted white belly and the tail that is constricted at the point where it meets the body.

The following week, I joined Lee in southeast Indiana to search for Four-toed Salamanders and Two-lined Salamanders (Eurycea cirrigera).

Again, we struck out, sort of. We weren't able to find any Four-toed Salamanders or Two-lined Salamanders on this trip, but as you will see below, we did have a productive day, finding five other salamander species. The Two-lined Salamander pictured above was found in west-central Indiana on 2 April 2011. Lee had told me that they hang out under flat rocks in moving streams, and he was exactly right, as Bill Ringer and I found numerous individuals on our 2 April 2011 excursion. The wide, dark stripe down each side of the often yellowish body identify this species as a Two-lined Salamander. The range of this species in the United States includes nearly all of the states east of the Mississippi River. A Two-lined Salamander spends its first year as an entirely aquatic larva, so this species cannot survive in creeks that completely dry up late in the year.

On the other end of the spectrum is the Redback Salamander (Plethodon cinereus), which is entirely terrestrial. The individual shown above was seen during my 13 March 2011 trip with Lee to southeastern Indiana. You would think that a species with "redback" in the common name could be identified by its red back, like the one shown above, but there is also a color morph that has a dark back and that looks very similar to the much less common Ravine Salamander (Plethodon richmondi). Redback Salamanders are known mostly from the northern states in the eastern half of the United States, but their range extends as far south as North Carolina along the East Coast. Redback Salamanders are found in forests and woodlands.

Northern Dusky Salamanders (Desmognathus fuscus fuscus), shown above, are dark colored and somewhat nondescript. In Indiana, they are only known from the southeastern quarter of the state, but their range within the United States includes most states east of the Mississippi River, plus Arkansas and Louisiana. This species can be found in springs, creeks, and streams, and Lee and I found several under rocks in flowing water on 13 March 2011.

The amphibian above just screams "if you eat me, you will pay." This is the eft stage of the Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens), and like many other things in nature that are brightly red or orange colored, the Eastern Newt is highly toxic. In fact, the skin of both the eft and adult stage of this species contains one of the most lethal toxins known to man, tetrodotoxin. The concentration of this chemical is much greater in the eft stage than in the adult stage. The Eastern Newt has three life stages... the aquatic larval stage, the entirely terrestrial eft stage, and the aquatic adult stage. Eastern Newts are found in forests with nearly permanent pools that accomodate all three life stages; they are known from most of the eastern half of the United States (to as far west as Texas).

The fourth species that Lee and I saw on 13 March 2011 was the Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum), shown above and below. As the common name implies, the skin of this species has a marbled appearance. This species is found in forests, including floodplains, flatwoods, and uplands. It is known from southern New England to Texas but has a primarily southern distribution. This is likely due in part to the fact that, unlike many other salamanders, Marbled Salamanders breed in the fall and overwinter as larvae. This gives them a competitive advantage and allows the larvae to feed on larvae of other salamanders in the spring. However, a species that overwinters in the larval stage is not well adapted to harsh northern winters.

This one sure looks happy, doesn't it?

Finally, one of the most attractive salamanders in my opinion is the Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum), shown above. There is no question about where the common name of this species came from! Like many of the other species in this post, Spotted Salamanders are known from much of the eastern half of the United States, to as far west as Texas. Its habitat requirement is forest with ponds, such as flatwoods. According to Minton (2001), "When injured or roughly handled, these salamanders exude a white fluid from skin glands, particularly those on the tail. Upon touching some to my tongue, I noticed an astringent taste followed by slight tingling and numbness." Can't say that I would have tried tasting the exuded fluid had I seen it.

Minton, S.A. Jr. 2001. Amphibians and Reptiles of Indiana. Indianapolis: Indiana Academy of Science.

Fear Not, Northerners!

2011-03-25T22:57:00.013-04:00

Although the calendar indicates that winter has officially ended, the weather in northern Indiana during the past few days hasn't felt very spring-like... and it doesn't appear that the temperature will increase much in the next week or so. Believe it or not, though, the spring wildflowers are preparing to do their thing. There has been an increase in wildflower posts on the blogs that I follow from southern Indiana, southern Ohio, and Missouri in the past couple of weeks, indicating that the spring flora is maturing in those areas. Unable to wait, I headed out in the field both of the past two weekends to see what I could find. On March 13 in Culver, Indiana, Lee Casebere, Scott Holaday, and I saw the spathe and spadix inflorescences of Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus, below), our earliest flowering native plant in this part of the state.

There wasn't anything else in bloom in these northern Indiana woods, so the next weekend (March 19) Lee and I drove to southeastern Indiana, primarily in search of Snow Trillium (Trillium nivale), by far our smallest, cutest, and earliest flowering trillium.

We weren't disappointed! After just 30 minutes or so of taking photographs of Snow Trillium, I told Lee that it was already worth the 4 hour drive to the site from my house.

A few of the plants, like the one below, had lightly pink-tinged petals.

Snow Trillium wasn't the only plant in flower in these woods. The diminutive and inconspicuous Harbinger of Spring (Erigenia bulbosa, below) was also in bloom.

Another early season bloomer, Sharplobe Hepatica (Hepatica nobilis var. acuta, below) was also in flower. However, we had to wait until later in the day to see the inside of the flowers, as they close up at night.

Finding these species in flower was not unexpected in southern Indiana in mid-March, but the next few surprised me. A few plants of Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis, below) had started to open.

Another plant that I hadn't expected to see in flower so early in the year was Virginia Springbeauty (Claytonia virginica, below). I can't find much information about the pubescence of the species, but one source that I found said that the stem and leaves are supposed to be glabrous. The plant in the photograph below is distinctly pubescent.

Although not yet in flower, Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica, below) already had visible flower buds.

Finally, although it won't be in flower until much later in the year, we saw several plants of Crippled Cranefly (Tipularia discolor, below), an orchid that is found more easily in winter (when the leaves are present) than when the nearly invisible flowers are present (and leaves are absent) later in the year.

Note the green, wrinkled top surface of the leaf (above) and the strongly purlish undersurface (below). This orchid is much more common in the southern half of Indiana than it is in the northern part of the state, so I never tire of seeing it.

So, for those of you north of here that still have snow on the ground, and for those at this latitude who are itching to get out and see plants blooming, hopefully this gives you some hope that shortly after we get past this cold stretch, the forests will be exploding with color.

You "Mink" my day!

2011-03-22T12:01:00.006-04:00

I always knew when I entered my marriage that there would be times that I would have to "compromise" and do things that I was less than eager to do. This week I was pushed to the limit but in return made a young environmentalist's dreams come true. The day started as any other day until I received the following phone call.

Scott: Hey Lindsay, I need a favor... There is a dead animal next to your parents house that I think is a mink. I need you to go and take pictures of it so I know for sure what it is.
Lindsay: You want me to take pictures of a dead animal?
Scott: Well yeah!

Fast forward to a short time later. I have taken a few photos and called Scott with a description of our fallen friend. He confirms it is a mink. Hooray, mission accomplished.

Ring, Ring.. it's Scott again.
Scott: Hey Lindsay, I need a favor. I talked to Jeremy (Scott's co-worker who is a bat and other mammal biologist) and he wants the mink. Can you go and get it and put it in a Kroger bag?
Lindsay: You must be (enter explicit word) kidding me. You want me to go and get a dead animal from the side of the road?
Scott: Well yeah!
Lindsay: You are pushing it! How am I going to pick it up because I surely am not touching a dead animal?
Scott: Put on gloves!
Lindsay: You're crazy, it's gonna be all squishy.
Scott: Don't be a baby, just go get it.
Lindsay: I'll try to pick it up with a shovel but you owe me sooooo big!

When Scott returned home that day I had just gotten over my dry-heaving episode that went along with shoveling the mink into a large plastic storage bin. We put our friend in the car and headed out to meet up with Jeremy and his wife at a beer tasting. Upon arrival, we gave Jeremy the mink. I have never witnessed such enthusiasm (well not since Scott got his vasculum for Christmas). He immediately pulled the mink out of the bag and began checking it out. The mink appeared to have died from "natural causes" so it was in really good shape. Jeremy continued to smile from ear to ear and just kept repeating how much we made his day.

In order to capture the pure joy of the occasion we have attached a picture of Jeremy with the actual mink.

This photo totally made all of my efforts worthwhile! But Scott still owes me big time!

To See The Forest And The Trees

2011-03-12T23:18:00.009-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Michigan to do a forest and Indiana Bat (Myotis sodalis) habitat assessment. Below are some photos of trees that are potential summer roost trees for this Federally Endangered species.

With a high percentage of exfoliating bark, Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata) is the poster child for Indiana Bat roost trees.

Live or dead/dying trees with peeling bark are considered potential habitat for Indiana Bat. In addition to Shagbark Hickory and other hickories (Carya spp.), oaks (Quercus spp.), maples (Acer spp.), Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides), and ashes (Fraxinus spp.) are the most common Indiana Bat summer roost trees. The White Oak (Quercus alba) shown above was greater than 3 feet in diameter at breast height (DBH), had peeling bark and hollow branches, and was located in a landscape position that would allow for roosting bats to access a clutter-free creek corridor. Aside from the fairly dense subcanopy in the immediate vicinity, this tree would make a good bat roost.

The White Oaks shown above and below are also potential Indiana Bat roost trees. All three of these were enormous, old, open-grown trees.

Overall at this site, we saw more than 40 trees greater than 25 inches DBH that were potential Indiana Bat roost trees. In addition, bat foraging habitat and connectivity were present, so it is likely that the next step will be for our bat biologist to set up mist nets and try to capture bats to see exactly what species are present.

Birding Life List

2011-03-06T14:34:00.005-05:00

Recently Scott downloaded a birding life list in Microsoft Excel format for us to keep track of and record all of the birds that we have seen on our various trips. Over the past several weeks we have been entering in the name of the birds we've seen, where we saw them, and the dates they were seen. We finally finished the list and were surprised to know we have a life list of 509 different bird species. That's not too bad but we were even more suprised when we realized that half of the birds on our life list were obtained during the 12 day trip we took to Costa Rica in 2007 for our 5 year anniversary. Going through the list has really made me excited for the fact that we will be returning to Costa Rica in June for a family vacation. I thought I would share a few of my favorite bird photos from the trip we took.

Montezuma Oropendolas feeding at Volcano Arenal. Arenal had a large feeding station and we could sit on our balcony or sit in the restaurant and see multiple different types of birds.

It was amazing luck to have spotted this White-whiskered Puffbird. It was very well hidden sitting not too far from it's mate at Carara National Forest.

One of my favorite birds was this Boat-billed Heron. We spotted him while taking a boat tour from Mawamba Lodge in Tortuguero.

Also on the boat tour we saw this Northern Jacana. If you look really close in the upper left of this photo you can also see a Bare-fronted Tiger Heron.

Great Curassow roaming the grounds of La Selva Organization for Tropical Studies.

The hummingbird on the left is a Green-crowned Brilliant and the hummingbird on the right is a Green Violet-ear. We saw multiple different species of hummingbirds feeding here at the park in Monteverde Cloud Forest.

A close up of the Bare-fronted Tiger Heron.

Hopefully our upcoming trip will provide us with even more birds to add to the life list and of course share with everyone on the blog.

Looking for a Good Home

2011-02-27T00:35:00.004-05:00

Last weekend while taking a break from the Great Backyard Bird Count, I was in our living room when I heard the familiar low warbling song of an Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis). Soon enough, a male was perched on a wire outside our window. The best that I could tell, he was scolding (and a few times attacking) his reflection in our window, thinking that it was another male Eastern Bluebird on his territory.

You may recall my post from last year about Eastern Bluebirds showing up on our platform feeder and near our windows. I can't help but to wonder if this may be one of the same birds.

A few minutes later, a female Eastern Bluebird showed up as well, and it appeared that the two were paired up and ready to find a home for the spring. I quickly went outside and cleaned out our bluebird boxes, just in case.

I haven't seen this pair since last weekend, so they've either left or taken up residence in one of our boxes. I'm hoping for the latter.

2010-2011 Winter Feeder Count Results

2011-02-25T23:10:00.004-05:00

As we have during the past few years, Lindsay and I participated in the Indiana Audubon Society Winter Bird Feeder Count again this year. For information on this count or to see our results from last year, see our post from about a year ago on the 2009-2010 count results.

The number of species observed during the count period this season was pretty similar to what we saw last season; we had 15 species in November, 19 species in December, 16 species in January, and 18 species in February, for a total of 22 species during the count (our complete species list from the 2010-2011 count is shown at the end of this post).

Species observed most frequently (those present during all four count periods) in 2010-2011 were Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura), Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus), Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens), Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus), Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata), Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor), White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis), American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea), Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis), House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus), American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis), and House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). Species observed in greatest abundance (with the greatest number observed at one time in parentheses) were American Goldfinch (55 in February), Pine Siskin (Carduelis pinus) (33 in November), House Sparrow (30 in December), American Tree Sparrow (23 in February), and Mourning Dove (18 in November).

The range in temperature during the 2010-2011 count was pretty comparable to that in 2009-2010, as we saw a minimum of -9 degrees Fahrenheit and a maximum of 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

2010-2011 Winter Bird Feeder Count Species List
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
Blue Jay
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
American Tree Sparrow
Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca)
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leocophrys)
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

How Do They Do It?

2011-02-18T23:19:00.007-05:00

The shores of Lake Michigan... certainly not the rich, fertile soils that characterize much of the rest of the cornbelt. In fact, this is one of the harshest and most inhospitable habitats in the Midwest. The coarse-textured sand does not hold much moisture, the sun beats down relentlessly and reflects off of the quartz-based substrate, and winds whip wildly off of the big pond. Yet, somehow, a specific suite of vascular plants are able to thrive in this desert-like community.

The dominant plant in the photograph above is Marram Grass (Ammophila breviligulata), a colonizing species that is thought by many to be almost entirely responsible for the presence of vegetation just off the coasts of the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. Marram Grass is at its best in dry, windy areas with shifting sands. As it becomes established, its root system stabilizes the sand and its leaves and stems capture moving sand, eventually leading to the formation of foredunes. Marram Grass has adapted to be able to tolerate the dry, windy conditions common where it grows by developing long, narrow leaves that are often rolled or folded to keep the stomata cool and shaded.

Another of those hardy colonizers is Seaside Spurge (Chamaesyce polygonifolia), shown above. This prostrate-growing, sand-loving species is regularly buried by blowing sand, yet it is able to persist in small patches scattered along the beach. To tolerate the windy conditions present along the lake, Seaside Spurge has adapted to grow only a few centimeters tall, keeping the plant from drying out by keeping it mostly out of the elements. It also has somewhat fleshy leaves with milky sap to help keep the plant from drying out.

Farther from the lake but in equally dessicated situations grows one of our most interesting milkweeds, Clasping Milkweed (Asclepias amplexicaulis). Although it often grows in areas with a higher density of vegetation, as seen in the photograph above, it can persist in the driest and finest of sands, and it often grows in disturbed areas. The leaves of this species are often somewhat appressed to the stem, exposing less surface are to the rays of the sun. Like Seaside Spurge, Clasping Milkweed has somewhat fleshy leaves and a milky sap to help resist dessication.

One of the characteristic plants of sand blowouts within the dunes is Beach Heather (Hudsonia tomentosa). Like the other species featured in this post, Beach Heather is able to withstand the arid, brutal environment in which it grows through a series of morphological adaptations: it is a low-growing, mat forming plant; the leaves are small and scale-like to reduce its surface area exposed to the sun and to reduce the amount of water that is loses through evapotranspiration; and as sand is blown over the plant and covers lower parts of the plant, Beach Heather is able to produce roots from the lower stem nodes so that it continually "moves" to ground level.

Finally, the poster child for the deserts of the Great Lakes, Eastern Prickly Pear (Opuntia humifusa). This cactus has many of the same adaptations as the plants above (low-growing, fleshy, etc.) that allow it to survive in the harshest of conditions.

History Repeats Itself

2011-02-12T21:00:00.006-05:00

Scott: "Wasn't it two years ago at Notre Dame that we saw a Merlin?"
Lindsay: "Yeah... I was at work, so I didn't get to see it."
Scott: "It was just as we pulled into the parking lot."

(Pulling into parking lot...)
Scott: "The Merlin was on that small tree."

(Passing the small tree...)
Scott: "Look! There's the Merlin!"

When Lindsay and I headed to University of Notre Dame this morning to join South Bend-Elkhart Audubon Society on a field trip to look at waterfowl, seeing a Merlin (Falco columbarius) never even crossed my mind. I was pretty sure that the one we saw in the parking lot off of Dorr Road (Scott: "You make a better Dorr than a Road!) two years ago was a freak occurrence. I guess not. Now, I wonder if this bird winters here every year. What a great first bird for a field trip!

In the photograph below, note two of the identifying characteristics on this otherwise somewhat nondescript raptor: the weak mustache and the white eyebrow.

But we weren't done. Brian Miller and I later joked that had the weather been like it was the past couple of days, we would probably have been the only two to show up for the field trip, and we probably would have left after seeing the Merlin. The mid-30 degree Farenheit temperatures on this sunny February day were perfect for a two-hour walk around St. Joseph's Lake.

Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos, in the background of the photograph above) were by far the most abundant species on the lake, but one of our highlight birds was the migrant in the foreground above, Redhead (Aythya americana). Interestingly, female Redheads lay their eggs in the nests of other Redheads or other ducks, supposedly often in the nests of the somewhat similar looking and related Canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria).

The number of Common Mergansers (Mergus merganser, in the photograph above) on the lake was quite impressive. I counted 81, but I am sure that I missed some. We often see Common Mergansers on St. Joseph's Lake in the winter, but not in these numbers. When Brian, Lindsay, and I did the Indiana Mid-winter Waterfowl Count at Notre Dame earlier this year, we didn't see any Common Mergansers.

One of the most handsome ducks, in my opinion, is the Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus, above). It must be the afro, as Lindsay calls it. This species is somewhat of a staple at St. Joseph's Lake.

The most common gull that we saw on the lake today was Herring Gull (Larus argentatus, or L. smithsonianus, if you choose to split the European Herring Gull from the American Herring Gull). The immature Herring Gull in the photograph above has the characteristic pink legs and thick bill. Adult Herring Gulls have a white body with a gray back and wings, black and white wingtips, and a yellow bill with a red spot on the lower mandible.

We only saw one Mute Swan (Cygnus olor, above) on the lake. Visiting St. Joseph's Lake, you can usually count on seeing at least one of this attractive Eurasian species.

Our complete list of species observed during the field trip follows:

Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Domestic Duck
American Black Duck
Mallard
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Cooper's Hawk
Merlin
American Coot
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
House Finch

A Welcomed Visitor

2011-02-05T10:11:00.005-05:00

In the days leading up to and following the (in my opinion much overhyped) recent "Snowmageddon," we noticed an increase in the number of birds at our feeders, and in the amount of bird food that was consumed.

In the photograph above, House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus), American Goldfinches (Spinus tristis), a Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis), and an American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea) enjoy a meal on our platform feeder.

Above, House Finches and an American Goldfinch are joined by a Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor).

Like Tufted Titmice, the White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) shown above doesn't stick around on the feeder for long. It grabs some food and quickly flies off to cache a morsel in the bark of a nearby tree for a later snack.

Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), like the one on the platform above, have been especially plentiful as of late, with our high count being around 15 individuals. But who is that on the suet feeder?

The snow and cold weather seemed to have brought a female Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) to our feeders. Our suet feeders are frequented by Downy Woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens), Hairy Woodpeckers (Picoides villosus), and Red-bellied Woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus) in the winter, but we rarely see Northern Flickers eating at our feeders. When we do encounter this species in our yard, it is often on the ground or at the base of a tree feeding on ants (their primary food source) or beetles. The subspecies that we see in the eastern United States is called the Yellow-shafted Flicker (C. auratus auratus); Red-shafted Flickers (C. auratus cafer) reside in the western United States. The common names of these subspecies come from the color under the tail, on the underwings, and on the shafts of the primary feathers. You can easily see the characteristic yellow or red, as well as the characteristic white rump, when the bird is in flight. At one time, Yellow-shafted Flickers and Red-shafted Flickers were considered two distinct species. However, hybrids which look intermediate between the two are common where the ranges overlap, and thus the two have been taxonomically lumped into one species with two subspecies.

For more information on Northern Flickers, including some amazing information on their tongues (that's right, their tongues), be sure to check out this post by Janet Creamer and this post by Jim McCormac.

The Booty and the Blizzard!

2011-02-02T14:40:00.002-05:00

Many of you are probably on the computer right now as a means to rest your aching backs and re-warm those fingers and toes after hours of shoveling out from yesterday's blizzard. After 3 hours of shoveling (yes shoveling, because even the tractor with the plow couldn't get through the snow drifts.) Scott and I returned to the following scene.

Those Australian's sure do know how to party. At least someone is enjoying the winter weather!

Plants in Song

2011-02-01T21:34:00.003-05:00

If you've got a few minutes, turn up the volume on your computer and visit these links that lead to songs about plants.

This one is about invasive plant species, and all of the images were submitted by school kids...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfyBYfifCo4

Here is a very creative song that was posted on the blog No seeds, no fruits, no flowers: no problem. Adventures in fern biology. This song was created by college students for extra credit... http://noseeds.blogspot.com/2011/01/fern-rap.html

Finally, a classic by the band Genesis, about the nasty invasive species Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTuJQL8GBqY

Enjoy!

To Honor a Botanical Legend

2011-01-28T20:19:00.005-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, the botanical world lost one of its finest when Fred Case passed away at the age of 83. Fred, a botanist and high school biology and natural science teacher, authored three botanical works: Wildflowers of the Northeastern States, Orchids of the Western Great Lakes Region, and Trilliums (co-authored with wife Roberta, who was also a teacher and field biologist). The latter of these, which has gained acclaim from gardeners and botanists alike, is one of the most treasured books in my collection.

To honor Fred and Roberta, below are photographs of all but one of the species of Trillium that I saw in 2010 (I did not take a photo of Nodding Wakerobin, Trillium flexipes, which I saw in April at Bentley Woods).

Whip-poor-will Flower (Trillium cernuum), June 7, 2010, Pokegama Wetlands, Douglas County, Wisconsin

White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), April 18, 2010, Bentley Woods, St. Joseph County, Indiana

Ozark Wakerobin (Trillium pusillum var. ozarkanum), April 22, 2010, Shannon County, Missouri

Bloody Butcher (Trillium recurvatum forma recurvatum), April 18, 2010, Bentley Woods, St. Joseph County, Indiana

Bloody Butcher (Trillium recurvatum forma luteum), April 18, 2010, Bentley Woods, St. Joseph County, Indiana

Toadshade (Trillium sessile), April 21, 2010, Spurgeon Hollow, Shannon County, Missouri

Wood Wakerobin (Trillium viride), April 20, 2010, Victoria Glade, Jefferson County, Missouri

Tapertip Wakerobin (Trillium viridescens), April 25, 2010, Mount Magazine, Logan County, Arkansas

Tapertip Wakerobin (Trillium viridescens), unnamed purple-petaled form, April 25, 2010, Mount Magazine, Logan County, Arkansas

Trillium sp., presumably an unnamed purple petaled and sepaled form of Tapertip Wakerobin (Trillium viridescens) growing in the same colony as plants in the previous two photos, April 25, 2010, Mount Magazine, Logan County, Arkansas

A Winter Wildflower

2011-01-21T19:17:00.005-05:00

Last weekend, Justin Thomas and I took a trip to Rocky Falls near Eminence in Shannon County, Missouri. Although this picturesque winter Ozark scene would have been worth the trip in itself, we had but one goal in mind.

That goal was to find a flowering plant in the depths of winter. In most years, the first flowering plant that I see in the new year is a non-native lawn species, such as a common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) or a speedwell (Veronica spp.). Not so this year, thanks to Justin.

This is Ozark Witchhazel (Hamamelis vernalis), nearly an Ozark endemic shrub, known from but five states in the country with by far most of its occurrences in the Ozarks of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Unlike the similar Eastern Witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana), which has a widespread distribution throughout the eastern half of the United States and which flowers from October to December, Ozark Witchhazel blooms from January to April. Whereas Eastern Witchhazel grows in moist woods, on wooded slopes, and in wooded valleys along streams, Ozark Witchhazel is at home in rocky areas along streams and in streambeds.

A nice treat for a January day.

Love That Lake Effect

2011-01-09T09:23:00.003-05:00

A snowy morning here in North Liberty, Indiana...

Over the last two days, Lake Michigan has dumped ~18 inches of snow on our property. Parts of South Bend have reported ~36 inches in the same time. Then there are the nearby locations that were outside of the lake effect band that still can see their lawns.

We aren't expecting much (if any) snow today, but there is another system followed by lake effect on the way later this week!

A Plug For Bugguide.net

2011-01-07T21:20:00.003-05:00

This past June, I was in the field with a coworker at a mitigation site in Lake County, Indiana, and we came across this odd larva moving across a gravel drive between weedy field and emergent marsh.

It may be a bit difficult to get an idea of scale from this photo, but this larva was approximatley 1.5 inches long. I searched online and through all of my references, but I couldn't figure it out, so I put the image aside, stored as an unknown beetle larva. Fast forward to yesterday, when I was going through photos in the project file while working on the report. I decided to try out http://www.bugguide.net/. I have visited the site on numerous occasions, but I had never sent them an unknown photo. After signing up for the webpage, I sent the photograph above, and within the next couple of hours the mystery was solved. This is the larva of a water scavenger beetle in the genus Hydrophilus. Adults are shiny black, shaped a bit like an elongated football, and are approximately 1.5 to 3 inches long. Being that large, they are pretty conspicuous, and can often be found at night near lights.

I was quite impressed with how quickly my unknown was identified. The folks at http://www.bugguide.net/ have a good thing going. Be sure to check out their site when you have a chance, and if you have any photos of unknown insects, submit them and there is a good chance that they won't be unknowns for very long.

Roadside Raptors and Such

2011-01-01T19:12:00.002-05:00

If there is one thing I know for sure, it's that the drive from North Liberty, IN to Painesville, OH should be considered one of the rarest forms of torture. True this drive is a straight-shot on the Indiana and then Ohio toll roads but it offers very little more than corn fields. That's why on Christmas afternoon when we started the trip I was so easily swayed when Scott said "hey, let's play a game." The game.....counting all the roadside raptors we could see with the unaided eye.

And the results were........

Indiana (on the trip to Ohio)
American Kestrel-3
Cooper's Hawk-1
Bald Eagle-2
Rough-Legged Hawk-1
Red-Tailed Hawk-8

Ohio (still on the way there)
American Kestrel-5
Red-Tailed Hawk- 21

Ohio (on the way home)
Red-Tailed Hawk-28
Cooper's Hawk-1
Peregrine Falcon-1
American Kestrel-5
Bald Eagle-2

Indiana (almost home and starting to get dark)
Red-Tailed Hawk- 2
American Kestrel-1
Barred Owl-1

The second part of the game occured when Scott also decided that the blog needed a picture of a Red-Tailed Hawk to go with the post. I mean how hard can it be to get a picture of a roadside hawk? Every time we would see one I would then hear "oh man I should have stopped" or "that would have made a great picture." Needless to say we learned the hard way that it is very difficult to get a good picture of a hawk while traveling 70+ miles an hour on the toll road with traffic. Hmm who would have thought? The above picture is instead taken the day after the trip outside of Potato Creek State Park, but you get the idea.

Although not the highest quality, this is a picture of one of the Bald Eagles that we saw soaring in Ohio not too far from the Sandusky exit. No matter how many I've seen them, there is still something amazing about seeing a Bald Eagle in flight.

The final score: Scott and Lindsay 1, Boredom 0.

A Real Snowbird

2010-12-24T22:27:00.003-05:00

Here in northern Indiana, some of our birds are summer residents, others pass through during migration, and yet others are here only during the coldest time of the year. I like to refer to the latter group as "snowbirds." One of our more abundant snowbirds, pictured below, is just over six inches long and can be identified by its gray face, rusty cap and eyeline, dark "stickpin" on the chest, and distinct white wingbars. This is an American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea), a real harbinger of winter in these parts.

One could only expect that a bird referred to as a "tree sparrow" would nest and/or forage in forested areas. You may be surprised, then, to learn that American Tree Sparrows nest on the ground, forage on the ground, and breed at an elevation above which trees are even able to grow. How, then, did this species get its name? As the story goes, early North American settlers were reminded of the Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) when they initially saw our "tree" sparrows, and thus dubbed them American Tree Sparrows without understanding the behavior and habits of the species.

It's no secret that American Tree Sparrows like it cold. They breed and spend the summer only in the extreme northern parts of North America, where the temperature never gets above 50 degrees Farenheit. While in the harsh environment of the arctic tundra, American Tree Sparrows feed almost exclusively on insects; in the winter, however, their diet is comprised of seeds, especially those of Tall Goldenrod (Solidago altissima) and Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis).

This winter, be sure to listen for the beautiful, high-pitched, tinkling "tweedle-eet, tweedle-eet" coming from old-field habitats, and watch for the characteristic ground-scratching underneath your feeders, and you are sure to see one of our hardiest winter residents, the American Tree Sparrow.

Oh Christmas Tree...

2010-12-17T17:07:00.003-05:00

Every year (well at least for the last 11 years we've been together) it has been tradition that Scott and I venture out into the cold in pursuit of the perfect Christmas tree. We love the look and smell of real trees and also enjoy the thrill of the hunt.

We skim through each and every row checking the tree for the perfect height, making sure there are no bare spots, seeing if it has sturdy branches, and don't forget it has to have a nice top in order to place the star.

Scott is obviously still working on perfecting his tree selecting skills. Although his choice does have some "Charlie Brown" Christmas value, there is no way it could fully display the 31 years of ornaments I have acquired. It has always been O'Connor tradition that you get a Christmas ornament each year (many years I have received more than 1). I have oranaments that include everything from Baby's First Christmas, the Campbell's Soup Collection, Valpo University collectors from my years in college, Grandma and Aunt Ruth's homemade specials, to the Irish Santa that takes center stage.

Ahhh, that one is more like it.
(I'm referring to the tree, not the view.)

Complete with lights, ornaments, and the star.

A very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year from our home to yours!

Mimicking Moths

2010-12-10T21:33:00.006-05:00

We have definitely moved into the slow time of the year. It is dark when I drive to work in the morning, and once I get home from work I barely have time to get Bootypants through our trails before they are too dark to see. As a result, I have only taken photos on three days in November and three days in December. Because of this, I was clicking through photos from earlier in the year and came across this one that I thought was worthy of a post...

These are sphinx moths in the genus Hemaris. The best that this botanist can tell, these are Snowberry Clearwing Moths (Hemaris diffinis). I took this photograph in Lake County, Indiana on August 7, 2010. Snowberry Clearwing Moths, which are found throughout almost all of North America, are said to mimic bumblebees, and it is pretty easy to see why someone unfamiliar with these lepidopterans might get confused.

In looking through my old photos, I found the two below of moths in the genus Hemaris.

I feel pretty good about calling the moth in the photograph above another Snowberry Clearwing Moth. This individual seems to fit the description well, with black legs and a very clean margin between the thicker black portion and the clear portion of the forewings. I took this photograph back in May of 2005 in St. Joseph County, Indana.

Here is another old photograph, taken in July of 2006 in St. Joseph County, Indiana. From the descriptions I have seen, I would call this a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe). This species has lighter-colored legs and a thicker, more ragged-edged reddish-brown forewing margin. As the name implies, Hummingbird Clearwing Moths are often mistaken for hummingbirds, as they hover over flowers while probing for nectar. They are found in North America but seem to be absent from the southwestern part of the continent.

A Serious Swoop of Sandhill Cranes

2010-12-03T21:06:00.004-05:00

It's never easy to get up early on a Saturday morning (and by early I mean at 4:30 AM), but when there is good reason, I am all for it. Last weekend, Brian Miller, Lynn Vernon, and I joined Kip Miller and several other members of the Berrien Birding Club on a trip that started out with us meeting at Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area at 7:15 AM. Our purpose? To see a swoop of Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis), of course!

We certainly weren't the only lunatics with the idea of braving one of the first really cold mornings of the season. Birdwatchers, photographers, and nature lovers alike flock to J-P annually to witness this event, and sometimes I can't help but wonder if the cranes are there to watch the people.

Just like every other November, the Sandhill Cranes did not disappoint. Each fall (and to a lesser extent in the spring), thousands of Greater Sandhill Cranes flock to the area surrounding Jasper-Pulaski during their migration from Canada, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and northern Indiana nesting grounds to their warmer wintering grounds in southern Georgia and Florida. During their stopover, they spend their days feeding mostly on grains and insects in agricultural fields, and their nights roosting in marshes, but the real spectacle is to see them congregate and socialize in Goose Pasture. When we were at J-P, their numbers totaled approximately 13,000. As of November 30, 2010, just two days later, almost 17,000 Sandhill Cranes were tallied. The highest number of Sandhill Cranes ever seen at J-P was in 1991, when 32,000 individuals were estimated.

Lindsay and I have visited J-P several times over the past ten years to see this event, but this trip was different. All of the other times we had made the hour drive to see the cranes, we had done so in the evening, just before sunset. Kip organized this trip for the opportunity to see the enormous, hungry flocks leaving for a day's worth of feeding.

It was definitely worth getting up early, making the long drive, and standing out in the cold!

As the cranes lifted off, their gutteral, rolling, trumpeting chorus blocked out nearly all other sound. As they made clumsy landing approaches with necks, wings, and legs extended, they reminded me of parachutist dropping to the ground.

It is difficult to get an idea of scale in these photographs, but if you've never seen a Sandhill Crane before, these are big birds. They stand approximately four feet tall and have a wingspan of six to seven feet.

As many times as I have been to Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area, I never tire of going back to see the cranes. If you are within a couple of hours of northwest Indiana and you have never been to J-P to see the Sandhill Cranes during migration, I recommend that you make the trip.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T21:25:00.006-05:00

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with friends and family, and that your stomachs aren't still as stuffed as mine.

I am thankful for many things this year. One of those things is being lucky enough to get a photo like the one below of Greater Fringed Gentian (Gentianopsis crinita) with my cheap work camera. This photo was taken in September at Miller Woods in Lake County, Indiana.

For more information on Greater Fringed Gentian and some of the species that are similar in appearance, visit my post from September 2009 on Get Your Botany On!.